1861

Russia (A Russian Officer and His Wife)

Japanese, 1833 - 1904

Although Japanese artists made sincere attempts to accurately portray their subjects' appearances, their lack of familiarity with the details of Western costume is often apparent. In this print, the upper portion of the woman's dress is rendered in a wrap style typical of Japanese kimonos, which is completely unrepresentative of the fashionable Western dresses of the day, designed to have tight-fitting bodices that accentuated a woman's small waist in contrast to the ballooning swell of her skirt.