Kaigetsudō Ando, Courtesan
entering a mosquito net, a hanging scroll
painting
Japan
Hōei-Shōtoku era (AD
1704-16)
A mosquito-net tent has been set up over
tatami mats spread with
summer quilts. A
courtesan
turns to glance backwards as she enters. She is wearing a kimono of
cool summer colours patterned with boughs of wisteria. The design
uses
yūzen
dyeing techiques and tie-dyed knots enriched with gold embroidery,
all of which have been skilfully differentiated by the artist. The
gold roundels are built up in three-dimensional swirls of
gesso
covered in gold paint. The courtesan's fan
(uchiwa) has a design of
seasonal vine leaves.
The
compositions of Kaigetsudō Ando's paintings of beautiful
women were more inventive than those of his pupils who normally
adopted the standing figure pose. Here Ando uses a delicacy of line
which gives a gracefulness to the ample figure, as she raises the
net with a slender hand. She is framed by the arching shape of the
opening in the mosquito-net, while the thick skein of her hair is
echoed in the curving folds of netting on the
floor.
The signature reads:
'Nihon giga Kaigetsudō Ando kore [o] zu [su]'
('Light-hearted painting in Japanese style, this picture
was done by Kaigetsudō Ando').
T. Clark, Ukiyo-e paintings in the Briti (London, The British Museum Press, 1992)
M. Narasaki (ed.), Hizō Ukiyo-e taikan, vol. 1 (Tokyo, Kodansha, 1987)