Standing Courtesan
Baiōken Eishun was among the ukiyo-e artists specializing in paintings of courtesans of the pleasure quarters in the style popularized by artists of the Kaigetsudō studio. He even prefaced his signature with Yamato-e, in the same way Kaigetsudō artists did, to assert that his style of painting was in the distinguished “Japanese-style painting” associated with courtly tastes.
Here, a patron or a courtesan has inscribed a poem to add a level of sexual suggestiveness:
Though I didn’t say
I was retiring for the night
still she loosens her sash.
She reads my thoughts,
bringing tears to my eyes.
—Trans. Miyeko Murase
Here, a patron or a courtesan has inscribed a poem to add a level of sexual suggestiveness:
Though I didn’t say
I was retiring for the night
still she loosens her sash.
She reads my thoughts,
bringing tears to my eyes.
—Trans. Miyeko Murase
Artwork Details
- 梅翁軒永春筆 立姿遊女図
- Title: Standing Courtesan
- Artist: Baiōken Eishun (Japanese, active early 18th century)
- Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
- Date: probably 1720s
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
- Dimensions: Image: 39 7/16 × 16 1/8 in. (100.2 × 41 cm)
Overall with mounting: 77 9/16 × 22 3/8 in. (197 × 56.8 cm)
Overall with knobs: 77 9/16 × 24 5/16 in. (197 × 61.7 cm) - Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015
- Object Number: 2015.300.123
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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