Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Procession of Women Crossing a River with a Young Falconer
Kitagawa Utamaro Japanese
Not on view
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.
This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
