Vintage albumen print hand-colored (circa 1880)
 The quality and preservation of the colours are exceptional.
 Young Geishas playing the shamisen
 By the edge of a lake, a group of young people are having tea, sitting cross-legged. The young women are dressed in the traditional geisha costume, the kimono, and some are playing the shamisen, a traditional plucked string instrument.
 The shamisen is used with voices in folk songs and as a solo or ensemble instrument (such as in kabuki orchestras). It became the instrument of choice for geishas.
 Kusakabe Kimbei (1841-1934) was a colorist and assistant to Felice Beato and Baron Raimond Von Stillfried before opening his own studio in Yokohama in 1881.
 Around 1885, he bought back the negatives of Beato and Stillfried. Kimbei immortalized numerous portraits of Japanese people at the end of the 19th century. The prints, which he hand-colored, were then sold to tourists visiting the country.