Women and Children Catching Fireflies, Katsukawa Shunsen

Ladies in elegant kimonos and elaborate coiffures enjoy themselves catching fireflies with their children in the kenrokuen garden, in kanazawa. The color and fluidity of movement of the five small figures arrayed across the foreground set them apart from the plain, stylized landscape. The kenrokuen garden can still be visited today; the decorative lantern on the right adorns the same bridge after 200 years. Date: between 1806 and 1830 (Edo). Place of creation: Japan. Dimensions: height: 26 cm (10.2 in); width: 38.3 cm (15 in). Medium: pigments on mulberry paper. Collection: Walters Art Museum. Sanoki - Women and Children Catching Fireflies - Walters 95170