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Shellfish and Apparitions of the Yoshiwara Pleasure Quarter

Calligrapher Shokusanjin (Ōta Nanpo) Japanese
ca. 1811
Not on view
This triptych of paintings by the noted Ukiyo e painter Eishi takes up the most unusual subject of scenes of the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters as dream like apparitions emanating from shellfish. Reflecting the painter’s diverse training as a young man, the shellfish and plum branches are very much in Kano ink wash style, while the figures are in Ukiyo e polychrome. About 1785, after Eishi had given three years of service to the shogunate, he switched his artistic affiliation from the academic style to Ukiyo e, specializing in woodblock prints and paintings of courtesans.

Most remarkably, the surrounding mounting silks of this triptych are inscribed with witty poems and popular songs related to Yoshiwara in the distinctive hand of the poet calligrapher and literary celebrity Ōta Nanpo, better known by his pen name Shokusanjin.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 鳥文斎栄之筆　蜀山人（大田 南畝）賛　吉原の蜃気楼図
  • Title: Shellfish and Apparitions of the Yoshiwara Pleasure Quarter
  • Artist: Chōbunsai Eishi (Japanese, 1756–1829)
  • Calligrapher: Shokusanjin (Ōta Nanpo) (Japanese, 1749–1823)
  • Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
  • Date: ca. 1811
  • Culture: Japan
  • Medium: Triptych of hanging scrolls with inscribed mountings; painting: ink and color on silk; calligraphy: ink on silk mounting fabric
  • Dimensions: Image (each): 35 1/4 × 12 3/4 in. (89.5 × 32.4 cm)
    Overall with mounting (each): 65 3/4 × 17 7/16 in. (167 × 44.3 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Friends of Asian Art Gifts, 2020
  • Object Number: 2020.117a–c
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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