Two Women and a Child by a Painted Screen, from the series Paris of Sevenths in the Floating World

In this cozy domestic scene, two women look at a folding screen with a small boy. The painted screen on the left depicts the Chinese Daoist immortal Huang Chuping, who magically turns a white stone into a ram. On the right-hand screen, a boy rides an ox while playing a flute. Linking these two images is their connection to the sequence of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac. The ram and the ox are seven animals apart. The year of the animal falling seven years after one’s birth-animal year was believed to be especially lucky. This print was one in a series of six, each with a different animal pair.