Five Beauties

1840

Not on view

The two women on the left play a hand-gesture game called kitsune-ken (fox fists) in which gestures representing a supernatural fox (kitsune) defeat those of a village head (shōya), who defeats a hunter (ryōshi), who in turn defeats the fox. An apprentice courtesan serves tea while a high-ranking courtesan makes a grand entrance. A feast of sashimi and other delicacies sits nearby.

Teisai Hokuba, one of the earliest and most talented pupils of Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), focused his efforts on surimono (privately commissioned woodblock prints), book illustration, and deluxe paintings of beauties like this one. His signature indicates that he was seventy years old when he painted it, near the end of his long career.

Artwork Details

蹄斎北馬筆　五美人図
Title: Five Beauties
Artist: Teisai Hokuba (Japanese, 1771–1844)
Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
Date: 1840
Culture: Japan
Medium: Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
Dimensions: Image: 15 3/8 × 20 3/4 in. (39.1 × 52.7 cm)
Overall with mounting: 47 3/4 × 25 3/4 in. (121.3 × 65.4 cm)
Overall with knobs: 47 3/4 × 28 in. (121.3 × 71.1 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Gift of Florence and Herbert Irving, 2015
Object Number: 2015.500.9.12
Curatorial Department: Asian Art

More Artwork

By Teisai Hokuba

In the same medium

From the same time and place

Spring Rain Collection (Harusame shū), vol. 3: Mountain Dove and Peach Flowers, Teisai Hokuba Japanese, Privately published woodblock prints (surimono) mounted in an album; ink and color on paper, Japan — Spring Rain Collection (Harusame shū), vol. 3: Mountain Dove and Peach Flowers
Teisai Hokuba
ca. 1820

Armor (<i>Gusoku</i>), Saotome Ietada Japanese, Iron, lacquer, silk, gilt copper, Japanese — Armor (*Gusoku*)
Armorer Helmet bowl signed Saotome Ietada
Armorer Breastplate inscribed inside, Myōchin Munesuke
16th and 18th centuries

Hawk at sunrise, Jeong Hong-Rae 정홍래 鄭弘來 Korean, Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk, Korea — Hawk at sunrise
Attributed to Jeong Hong-Rae 정홍래 鄭弘來
second half 18th century–first half 19th century

Two fans with auspicious crane and long-lived turtle (minogame) motifs, Teisai Hokuba Japanese, Woodblock print (surimono), Japan — Two fans with auspicious crane and long-lived turtle (minogame) motifs
Teisai Hokuba
ca. 1810s

Shō, Bamboo wood, metal, Japanese — Shō
Japanese
19th century

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