Standing Courtesan

In a pose often utilized by Hishikawa Moronobu and his successors, a courtesan walks with bent knees and tiny steps, perhaps making her way along an avenue of the Yoshiwara quarters, the gated pleasure district outside of Edo (present-day Tokyo). She wears a gorgeous outer robe with seashell motifs; the shells are painted with scenes and designs, a reference to the shell-matching game that had its origins in courtly circles.

Like many artists of Ukiyo-e, a genre of paintings and prints that often focused on the demimonde, Moronobu painstakingly reproduced aspects of female fashion and the latest in stylish textile patterns. He himself came from a family of textile designers, and brought this expertise to bear in his work.