A JAPANESE SHUNGA EROTIC SCROLL PAINTING

A JAPANESE SHUNGA EROTIC SCROLL PAINTING, KAKEMONO

TAISHO PERIOD, 20TH CENTURY

In ink and colour on paper, depicting pearl divers, ama, one scantily clad maiden sitting on a rock under pines, observing her companion underwater with two kappa ravishing her, 42cm x 30.5cm.

This painting is inspired by the shunga album entitled Utamakura ('Poem of the Pillow') originally illustrated by Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806). This scene depicts kappa or kawako (child of the river) which are mythical amphibious creatures with the body of a tortoise, the limbs of a frog and the head of a monkey. They have a shallow cavity to the top of their head which contains a fluid said to give them their strength.