Procession of Women Crossing a River with a Young Falconer
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.This spectacular triptych captures the implausible circumstances of a courtesan in full regalia and her entirely female entourage disembarking from a boat that has just traversed a river, while a palanquin has been prepared to continue the journey. The setting is spring, with cherry blossoms at their peak, and Mount Fuji appears in the distant background. The handsome young male falconer heading the procession may be the woman’s patron, who has funded a journey to his home province. Utamaro, known as the portraitist par excellence of courtesans, has imagined what the procession of a daimyo (feudal lord) would look like if all the retainers, porters, flagbearers, and other attendants switched gender. Ukiyo-e artists and their audiences enjoyed this kind of visual spoofing.
Artwork Details
- 喜多川歌麿画 女行列川渡
- Title: Procession of Women Crossing a River with a Young Falconer
- Artist: Kitagawa Utamaro (Japanese, ca. 1754–1806)
- Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
- Date: ca. 1804
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Triptych of woodblock prints (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper; vertical ōban
- Dimensions: Frame: 24 3/16 × 38 5/8 in. (61.4 × 98.1 cm)
Image: 15 3/8 × 10 5/8 in. (39.1 × 27 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Lent by Lee E. Dirks
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art