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Notice the wide black sash tied at the front of the courtesan’s robe, as was the custom for courtesans, and the green sashes tied at the backs of the two girls.
Torii Kiyonobu I, who made prints mainly of kabuki actors, painted this courtesan on silk about 1705. She bends toward two young attendants dressed alike, and a short poem is written above them. Describing a similar painting, the Minneapolis Institute of Art calls such girls kamuro: trainees who served high-ranking courtesans and would later be made courtesans themselves.
Hanging scroll; ink and colors on silk · Painting: 83.4 × 33.2 cm · Art Institute of Chicago
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Details and source
- Museum title
- Courtesan and Two Attendants
- Artist
- Torii Kiyonobu I Japanese, 1664–1729
- Date
- About 1705
- Medium
- Hanging scroll; ink and colors on silk
- Dimensions
- Painting: 83.4 × 33.2 cm (32 13/16 × 13 1/16 in.); With mounting: 171.5 × 46.6 cm (67 1/2 × 18 5/16 in.)
- Credit line
- Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harold G. Henderson
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- Art Institute of Chicago
Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.