The Evening Bell under the Watch-tower

Two women stand and sit on a veranda behind red lattice shutters, one unrolling a long sheet of paper to read while the other looks on in a dark, layered robe. Soft ochre and rose color tints the figures and floor, and a poem in calligraphy runs across the upper right.

Look closer: Faint flecks of snow or falling petals drift beyond the lattice on the left, behind the seated figure.

Artist

Isoda Koryūsai

Date

ca. 1771

Medium

Woodblock print; ink and color on paper

Source

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Size

2914 × 3914 px

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Estate of Samuel Isham, 1914