Shunga (春画) is a Japanese term for erotic art. Translated literally, the Japanese word shunga means picture of spring; “spring” is a common euphemism for sex.

Explicit and beautifully detailed, Shunga paintings, produced between 1600 and 1900, have continued to influence manga, anime and Japanese tattoo art and inspired artists like Toulouse Lautrec, Beardsley, Rodin and Picasso.

The trailer for this exhibition at London’s British Museum needed to capture the sensuality in the explicit drawings to entice the viewer to pay the exhibition a visit. It was also the first time at exhibition at the BM had a R rating for visitors.

This promo has been one of the most watched museum trailers in the UK in the last few years.