Artisans, from the series "An Up-to-Date Parody of the Four Classes"

Artisans, from the series "An Up-to-Date Parody of the Four Classes"

Utagawa Kunisada

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

To represent artisans, one of the four classes (warriors, farmers, artisans, and merchants) of the Edo period, Kunisada replaced the men more typical of the theme with pretty women and illustrated the interior of a woodblock printer's atelier. The woman at a table at the right is incising fine lines into a woodblock through a sheet of paper bearing an artist's painted design. In the center near the window, another woman is using a gouge and mallet to remove unwanted wood from another block. The woman in the center foreground is applying sizing to a sheet of paper. At the left, in front of a printing alcove, a female printer is waiting for these preparations to be completed.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Artisans, from the series "An Up-to-Date Parody of the Four Classes"Artisans, from the series "An Up-to-Date Parody of the Four Classes"Artisans, from the series "An Up-to-Date Parody of the Four Classes"Artisans, from the series "An Up-to-Date Parody of the Four Classes"Artisans, from the series "An Up-to-Date Parody of the Four Classes"

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.