Courtesan seated on a balcony
Dateca. 1810
Label TextA courtesan is shown at repose in a room that opens to a balcony and view of the bay. She holds a blue-white porcelain cup, while resting a hand within the folds of her robe. A smoking set is placed at one side, the box containing her shamisen, a three-stringed instrument, at the other. Tobacco introduced from Portugal, and shamisen introduced from Okinawa, were both expensive and exotic items in in those days Japan, clearly hallmarks of a fashionable courtesan and her affected lifestyle. The painting's three-dimensional sense reveals the artist's adaptation of a western perspective combined with a traditional style of beauty.
Object number63.50
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Legends, Tales, Poetry: Visual Narrative in Japanese Art, December 22, 2012 - July 21, 2013
Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, "Refined Harmony: Decorative Arts from the Edo Period", March 7, 2003 - March 23, 2004Credit LineGift of Miss Cora Clem
Dimensions16 1/8 x 25 7/8 in. (41 x 65.7 cm)
Overall h.: 55 1/2 in.
Overall w.: 27 5/8 in.
MediumColor on silk
ca. 1799
Object number: 2017.23.10
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