The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

A Beauty

c. 1810

Fujimaro

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

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.
  • (Felice Fedder Oriental Art, Inc., New York, NY, sold to Mr. and Mrs. Kelvin Smith)
    ?–1985
    The Kelvin Smith Collection, Cleveland, OH, given by Mrs. Kelvin [Eleanor Armstrong] Smith [1899–1998] to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1985–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Jenkins, Donald. “Paintings of the Floating World.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 75, no. 7 (September 1988): 244–260, 262–278, 238. Reproduced: fig. 9, color plate 1, pp. 255–257 25160038
    “Checklist of the Kelvin Smith Bequest.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 75, no. 7 (September 1988): 292–295. Mentioned: p. 294 www.jstor.org
    Jenkins, Donald, and Lynn Jacobsen-Katsumoto. The Floating World Revisited. Portland, OR: Portland Art Museum, 1993. Reproduced: cat. no. IV-4, pp. 196–197
    Vilbar, Sinéad. "Enhancing East Asia: Experience the Japanese and Korean Galleries in a New Light." Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine, vol. 56, no. 3, May/June 2016, 22–23. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 22. archive.org
  • Japan’s Floating World 日本の浮世. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (April 8-October 9, 2022).
    Japanese Gallery 235 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland OH (June 3, 2016–January 10, 2017).
    Visions of Japan: Prints and Paintings from Cleveland Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 12, 2004-April 10, 2005).
    Ukiyo-e: The Floating World Revisited. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 2-April 3, 1994).
    A Private World: Japanese and Chinese Art from the Kelvin Smith Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 14-November 13, 1988).
  • {{cite web|title=A Beauty|url=false|author=Fujimaro|year=c. 1810|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1985.256