Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Browse: 10610 objects

Courtesans relaxing in the afternoonfront

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Reference URL
?

Actions

Courtesans relaxing in the afternoon

  • Details

    show all
    Associated place
    Tōkyō (place of creation)
    Tōkyō (place of publication)
    Tōkyō (Yoshiwara) (subject)
    Date
    1780 - 1795
    Artist/maker
    Katsukawa Shunchō (active 1780 - 1795) (designer)
    Associated people
    Nishimuraya Yohachi (c. 1751 - c. 1870) (publisher)
    Material and technique
    nishiki-e (multi-block) woodblock print, printed with water-based vegetable pigments
    Dimensions
    mount 55.3 x 40.6 cm (height x width)
    print 39.2 x 25.8 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    paper
    Technique index
    colour woodcut
    Object type index
    triptych print
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Presented by Mrs Allan and Mr and Mrs H. N. Spalding, 1952.
    Accession no.
    EAX.4082

  • Further reading

    Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 24 August-30 November 2005, Beauties of the Four Seasons, Mitsuko Watanabe, ed. (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2005), no. 9 on p. 18, illus. p. 19

Glossary (2)

nishiki-e, vegetable pigments

Location

    • currently in research collection

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

Publications online

  • Beauties of the Four Seasons by Mitsuko Watanabe

    Beauties of the Four Seasons

    Courtesans gathered chatting on the veranda of a Green House with the shōji (sliding doors made with paper) open, on a cheerful sunny day. Even the cat seems to be relaxed. In the background Shunchō has, most unusually, used geometrical perspective, showing the details of the structure of a Green house of the period, easily divided into small rooms suitable for small parties.

    During the Edo era, the style and thickness of kimono was changed four times a year. These girls are wearing awase (lined kimono) which were worn in early summer and late autumn. The design of chrysanthemum on the kimono of the central standing girl may relate to the Chrysanthemum Festival in September.

© 2013 University of Oxford - Ashmolean Museum