The Fortune Vault – Koikawa Shozan c.1858
 
This rare print is by Koikawa Shozan, and part of the same notorious mid-19th-century grotesque shunga series, (Ridiculous Things/Warai nogu oheso ga cha).  This particular picture is titled, "Boiling Tea in the Belly Button."
 
In this lush and satirical shunga diptych, a majestic courtesan reclines serenely as dozens of miniature men haul carts full of coin bricks toward her body, depositing them directly into her vagina — which serves here as a lavish, almost sacred receptacle.  The composition mirrors and amplifies an earlier, well-known piece by Hokusai, often referred to as the "Giant Vagina Wishing Well", where pilgrims offer coins to a divine vulva in the hopes of blessings, pleasure, or fertility.  Here, however, the tone is more theatrical and decadent: this is no temple — it’s a metaphorical bank vault or treasure trove.  The elaborate hairstyle and ornate robes of the woman mark her as a high-ranking courtesan or oiran, perhaps even a goddess of pleasure, resting with knowing amusement as her desirability is literalized into economic tribute.
 
Measures approximately 22.1 cm x 18.1 cm.  Good colors and impressions.  Condition is decent with some wear, soiling, slight wormage at bottom.   Album backing.  Please see and judge from the photos provided.  
 
Erotic satire of wealth and desire: The act of depositing coins is symbolic of the economic transactions tied to pleasure and sex — especially in the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters, where beauty, status, and sexual access were tightly bound to wealth.