Asian Love

Courtesan and Attendants, Engetsudo, c. 1748-1751, Cleveland Museum of Art: Japanese Art

The courtesan wears a pair of tall, lacquered wooden clogs and heavy robes, indicating it is winter. The elaborate span of her tortoiseshell comb in her fashionable coiffure enhances her glamorous appearance. Her blue-and-white striped obi is tied in a loose bow in front, typical for a her profession. The round, stylized cherry blossom crest of her “house” (brothel), partially visible on her shoulder just above the shawl, also appears on the robes of her two attendants (kamuro). The attendants hold shuttlecocks, used in a game associated with New Year’s. One girl stares out at the viewer; the other looks back. The frontal view of the attendant’s face is somewhat unique in ukiyo-e painting and prints. Size: Overall: 189.8 x 64.8 cm (74 ¾ x 25 ½ in.); Painting only: 90.2 x 43.8 cm (35 ½ x 17 ¼ in.) Medium: hanging scroll; ink and color on paper

Courtesan Before a Mirror Adjusting Her Hairpins (from the series A New Series of the Six Immortal Poets), Chōbunsai Eishi, mid 1790s, Cleveland Museum of Art: Japanese Art

Size: Sheet: 33.4 x 20.5 cm (13 1/8 x 8 1/16 in.) Medium: color woodblock print

No Title, Kitagawa Utamaro, 1753-1806, Cleveland Museum of Art: Japanese Art

Size: Sheet: 38.4 x 24.8 cm (15 1/8 x 9 ¾ in.) Medium: color woodblock print

Evening Bell at Mii Temple (from the series Eight Views of Omi Province), Ando Hiroshige, late 1830s or early 1840s, Cleveland Museum of Art: Japanese Art

Size: Sheet: 15 x 21 cm (5 7/8 x 8 ¼ in.) Medium: color woodblock print

Courtesan, Matsuno Chikanobu, 1716-1735, Cleveland Museum of Art: Japanese Art

A glamorous courtesan sports an outer robe decorated with large roundels featuring plant motifs including iris and bush clover. Little is known about the life and artistic training of the painter Matsuno Chikanobu, an ukiyo-e artist who painted in a style strongly reminiscent of that of the Kaigetsudō studio. Many of his known paintings are on silk, and executed with high quality pigments, indicating that his primary clientele were wealthy individuals. Size: Overall: 179.1 x 58.5 cm (70 ½ x 23 1/16 in.); Overall: 177.8 x 52.7 cm (70 x 20 ¾ in.); Painting only: 91 x 35.5 cm (35 13/16 x 14 in.); Painting only: 91.8 x 39.6 cm (36 1/8 x 15 9/16 in.) Medium: hanging scroll; ink and color on paper

Buy Me a Coffee

"The Cat's Dream" by Utamaro from Siegfried Bing's Artistic Japan v.6 (1891).