painting;
hanging scroll
- Museum number
- 1913,0501,0.361
- Description
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Painting, hanging scroll. Courtesan pausing as walking under cherry blossoms to turn and talk to two attendants; one of attendants holding flute in brocade bag. Signed and sealed. Ink and colour on paper.
- Production date
- 1736-1751
- Dimensions
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Height: 90 centimetres
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Width: 26.90 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
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Clark 1992
In spring the central street in Yoshiwara pleasure quarter, Nakanocho, was lined with flowering cherry trees, and here a courtesan pauses as she walks under the blossoms to turn and talk to her two 'kamuro', one of whom holds a (?)flute in a brocade bag. The courtesan's surcoat ('uchikake') is decorated with an elaborate hand-painted design of swallows flying among willow branches above swirling water.
Kao is known by only a handful of accomplished paintings of beauties whose small, plump features show the strong stylistic influence of Okumura Masanobu. On the basis of his use of the name Yasunobu in his seal he may be the same individual as Shibata Yasunobu, who is known by a single hand-coloured woodblock print. Other examples of his paintings are illustrated in Ota, April 1985, no. 63, and Narazaki 1987, vol. 2, no. 121 (Tokyo National Museum Collection).
Literature:
'(Hizo) Ukiyo-e taikan' ('Ukiyo-e Masterpieces in European Collections'), ed. Narazaki Muneshige. Vol. 1, Tokyo, Kodansha, 1987, no. 116.
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Asahi 1996
春になると吉原遊郭の大通り•仲ノ町は満開の桜に彩られる。本図では、遊女が桜の下で足を止めて振り返り、二人の禿に何やら話しかけている。そのうちの一人は、錦の袋に入った笛（？）を手に持つ。遊女の打掛けには、渦巻く水流の上に枝を伸ばした柳と飛び交う燕の文様が、念入りに染抜かれている。
花扇は、数点の美人画が知られるのみである。小さくてふくよかなそれらの顔立ちは、奥村政信の様式的な影響がかなり濃いことを示している。印章に「保信」という名を使っていることから、紅絵で知られる柴田保信と同一人物である可能性も考えられる（他の作品については、以下の文献を参照のこと。太田記念美術館『太田記念美術館所蔵 肉筆浮世絵名品展』図録 1685年 63図[。] 楢崎宗重編『日本の美術 肉筆浮世絵Ⅰ』1987年 至文堂 121図（東京国立博物館蔵））。
（荒木康子（福島県立美術館））
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1913
- Acquisition notes
- The collection of Japanese and Chinese paintings belonging to Arthur Morrison was purchased by Sir William Gwynne-Evans, who presented it to the British Museum in 1913.
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 1913,0501,0.361
- Additional IDs
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Asia painting number: Jap.Ptg.1410 (Japanese Painting Number)
