Two women tend a smoking cooking fire at the hearth

In the right half of this two-sheet composition, a woman in a striped robe leans forward blowing into the coals of a brazier through a bamboo pipe as smoke curls upward, while a second woman behind her, a cup in one hand, reaches out with long iron tongs toward the pot on the stove. A wooden well-frame and bucket stand at left beside a bank of red-lacquered steps. The artist's signature 'Utamaro hitsu' appears at upper right beside a censor seal. This sheet forms the right half of a kitchen-genre diptych; the companion left sheet shows two further women grooming beside kitchen vessels.

Kitagawa Utamaro (c. 1753–1806) defined the ukiyo-e portrait of women. Working with the publisher Tsutaya Jūzaburō in the 1790s, he introduced the ōkubi-e, or large-head print, which brought the viewer close enough to read a glance or a gesture, and he gave the beauties of the Yoshiwara district individual faces and names. Mica grounds, transparent textiles and fine line work made his prints the most refined of their day. His work is held by the British Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Printed as a museum-grade giclée on Hahnemühle fine art paper using 12-ink archival pigment printing. Available handframed in FSC-certified wood with optional float glass, or unframed. Ships worldwide with free delivery to 30+ countries.