The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 17, 2026

A vertically oriented color woodblock print depicts two women with light skin tones. On our right, a woman stands in a brown and green robe, hair in a bun with a long pin. She gazes at a black circular mirror held by a woman seated on our left, who wears a patterned brown robe. Japanese calligraphy is inscribed in a rectangular box at the top left and along the right edge.

The Hour of the Snake (from the series A Clock for Young Women)

c. 1796

Kitagawa Utamaro

(Japanese, c. 1754–1806)
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
color woodblock print
Sheet: 36.2 x 23.2 cm (14 1/4 x 9 1/8 in.)
Gift from J. H. Wade 1921.345
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

There are embossed outlines on the women's faces.
  • ?–1921
    Carl William Schraubstadter [1862–1947], New York, NY
    February 12, 1921
    (American Art Association, February 12, 1921 sale, lot 794)
    1921
    (Yamanaka & Co., New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1921–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Vincent Van Gogh. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 25-April 19, 1936).
  • {{cite web|title=The Hour of the Snake (from the series A Clock for Young Women)|url=false|author=Kitagawa Utamaro|year=c. 1796|access-date=17 July 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1921.345