Artwork Page for A Beauty

Details / Information for A Beauty

A Beauty

美人図

c. 1810

Fujimaro 藤麿

(Japanese, d. 1830)
Culture
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
Medium
hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
Measurements
Overall: 180.4 x 48.3 cm (71 x 19 in.); Painting only: 94 x 31 cm (37 x 12 3/16 in.)
Credit Line
The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith 1985.256
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print
?

Did You Know?

The handsome youth in the painting is accompanied by a boy carrying a plum branch.

Description

Many ukiyo-e paintings and prints focus on bijin (美人), or “beautiful people.” Female courtesans and entertainers were the main draw in the pleasure district of Edo (now Tokyo), but young men were also available. The poem here reads as follows: "The full blooming cherry / is not the only flower worth mentioning. / The color of the young plum tree / blooms as well."

The full blooming cherry is a metaphor for mature women, and the plum for young men.
A silk hanging scroll features columns of Japanese calligraphy in the upper half. Below, a woman with light skin and black hair walks right, wearing a black outer robe over a gray kimono with a gold checkered hem. Behind her, a child in a yellow and black checkered robe carries flowering branches. Red seals and a signature mark the right edge, all set against a muted beige silk background.

A Beauty

c. 1810

Fujimaro

(Japanese, d. 1830)
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)

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