Standing Courtesan

Baiōken Eishun Japanese

Not on view

Baiōken Eishun was among the ukiyo-e artists specializing in paintings of courtesans of the pleasure quarters in the style popularized by artists of the Kaigetsudō studio. He even prefaced his signature with Yamato-e, in the same way Kaigetsudō artists did, to assert that his style of painting was in the distinguished “Japanese-style painting” associated with courtly tastes.

Here, a patron or a courtesan has inscribed a poem to add a level of sexual suggestiveness:

Though I didn’t say
I was retiring for the night
still she loosens her sash.
She reads my thoughts,
bringing tears to my eyes.
—Trans. Miyeko Murase

Standing Courtesan, Baiōken Eishun (Japanese, active early 18th century), Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk, Japan

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Standing Courtesan, Baiōken Eishun (Japanese, active early 18th century), Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk, Japan
Standing Courtesan, Baiōken Eishun (Japanese, active early 18th century), Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk, Japan
Standing Courtesan, Baiōken Eishun (Japanese, active early 18th century), Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk, Japan

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