This double-page illustration depicts a painter, who has been suggested could be Kitagawa Utamaro himself, colouring in a painting of a hō-ō (phoenix) on the interior wall of a Yoshiwara brothel, while a group of courtesans clamour at the door to look on in admiration. Behind the artist, a young apprentice heats up the animal hide glue (nikawa), used to bind pigments in traditional Japanese painting, in a brazier.

This print comes from Volume 2 of Yoshiwara Picture Book of New Year’s Festivities (Yoshiwara saiken saishō zu), a deluxe picture book chronicling the seasonal events of the licensed Yoshiwara district. The accompanying text was written by the popular comic author Jippensha Ikku (1765–1831).

This publication is Utamaro’s final illustrated book before his death, and one of his most widely known works. Its international fame grew after Edmond de Goncourt reproduced and translated Ikku’s text in the French book Outamaro: Le Peintre des Maisons Vertes (Paris, 1896), helping to introduce Utamaro’s art to Western audiences.