Woodblock Print by Chikanobu Toyohara: Bunka From Jidai Kagami or Mirror of the Ages, Framed

Gold combs, a scarlet lip, and a sideways glance at whatever is happening off the page.

Bunka, from Jidai Kagami or Mirror of the Ages, is a framed woodblock print by Chikanobu Toyohara (1838-1912), from Japan, dated 1897, in ink on paper. The series is generally understood to trace women's fashions across the eras of Japanese history, with each sheet named for a period and paired with a small scene above. A woman with a lacquered black coiffure and yellow hairpins turns her head against a pale blue ground. Her teal robe opens on a red under-collar. Above, figures walk past a lattice fence. It is 20.5 inches wide and 25 high.

Two centuries on, the hairpins still hold.