Lithograph by Sengai Igawa: Beauty Rin

Asleep on the floor, a hairpin slipping loose, and the kimono not remotely bothered.

This lithograph, Beauty Rin, is by Sengai Igawa, from Japan, ca. 1920, in ink on paper. Pictures of beautiful women, or bijinga, were a favorite subject of Japanese prints and book illustration for centuries, and the genre carried on well into the 20th century. A young woman rests her head on one arm, eyes closed, her black hair piled up with long pins. Her green kimono is scattered with small white motifs, layered over a purple robe patterned in chrysanthemums. A fold runs down the center of the sheet. It measures 6.9 by 9.4 inches.

Some naps deserve to be recorded.