chirimen-e　縮緬絵

KEY WORD :　art history / paintings

A multi-colored print which was rolled around a bar and then rubbed to give it crinkles and creases as if it had been printed on crepe silk, chirimen 縮緬. This treatment causes the print to shrink to about two thirds of its original size, as a result of which lines take on special characteristics and the colors darken. Chirimen-e were popular around the end of the Edo period. Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重 (1791-1858) included them among his "Hundred Famous Views of Edo" Meisho Edo Hyakkei 名所江戸百景 series and Utagawa Kuniyoshi 歌川国芳 in his "Famous Products of Mountains and Oceans" Sankai meisanzukushi 山海名産尽 series of 1833. In the Meiji period, such prints were machine-made to appeal to foreign tastes, and outside of Japan chirimen-e were popular as table napkins.

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