“Hour of the Rat: Mistress,” from the series Women’s Daily Customs (Fuzoku bijin tokei)

Kitagawa Utamaro

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Kitagawa Utamaro, one of the most prolific artists of the bijin genre that portrays beautiful women, made many images of mothers and children. Here, to illustrate the hour of midnight, Utamaro chose a mother who sleepily emerges from a mosquito net to attend to her child, who rubs the sleep from his eyes. The personal, everyday nature of the subject exemplifies the new interest in the individual that emerged during the mid- to late Edo period.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art