Chinese Beauty Beside a Plum Tree, leaf from the album “A Contest of Beauties from the Near and Distant Past” (Chūko shomeika bijin kurabe)

1895

Not on view

This print is a single sheet from the second edition of A Contest of Beauties from the Near and Distant Past, an album of individual leaves published in 1895 by Aoki Kōsaburo in Osaka. A Chinese beauty is shown leaning against the trunk of a plum tree, contemplating a branch with blossoming flowers. Genki was one of the senior disciples of Maruyama Ōkyo, the founder of the Maruyama-Shijō school. His reputation rests upon one his graceful depictions of beautiful Chinese women. The original printed book contained not only artists from Ōkyo’s school such as Ōkyo himself, Genki or Yamaguchi Soken, but also ukiyo-e artists such as Chōbunsai Eishi (1756–1829) or even painters of the traditional Tosa school.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

源琦　梅下美人図
Title: Chinese Beauty Beside a Plum Tree, leaf from the album “A Contest of Beauties from the Near and Distant Past” (Chūko shomeika bijin kurabe)
Artist: After Genki (Komai Ki) (Japanese, 1747–1797)
Period: Meiji period (1868–1912)
Date: 1895
Culture: Japan
Medium: Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Dimensions: Album: 8 1/2 x 5 5/16 in. (21.6 x 13.5 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Gift of Donald Keene, in honor of Julia Meech-Pekarik, 1986
Object Number: JP3717
Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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