Kitagawa Utamaro II (fl. circa 1810's-1830's) Circa late Bunka era (1804-1818), early 19th century
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Find your local specialistKitagawa Utamaro II (fl. circa 1810's-1830's)
Kakejiku, in ink and colour on silk, depicting an oiran (high-ranking courtesan), possibly intended to represent Takao dayu, one of the most famous courtesans in Yoshiwara, seated at a black lacquer Chinese table writing poetry on tanzaku slips, signed Utamaro with seal Utamaro; with wood storage box. 87.5cm x 34.8cm (34½in x 13¾in). (2).
Footnotes
見立琴棋書画図（高尾太夫図） 喜多川歌麿筆 一幅 絹本着色 文化年間後期（19世紀前期）頃
In this painting the artist shows a sumptuously attired oiran, arranged in a three-quarter profile, set against a plain background, seated in front of a Chinese-style black lacquer table on which rest traditional scholar implements, an inkstone and a suzuri in the form of a recumbent shishi. Her head is turned to the left as she is lost in thought, reflecting on what to paint on the tanzaku held in her right hand. A pile of books, the page of one inserted with a tasselled slip, contained within a storage box is neatly stacked behind, to her left.
The clever composition and three-dimensional quality of the maple and other seasonal blossoms on her elaborate black uchikake (surcoat) appear as if they are growing out of the very hems of her garment; while her blue wide brocade obi, decorated with a dragon and tied in an ostentatious knot at the front, and the multiple tortoiseshell hairpins dressing her hair, reflect the gorgeous and opulent fashion of the time. The high pointed yoko-hyogo hairstyle is also seen in early prints by Eizan and would appear to date to shortly after Utamaro I's death.
It is clear that this painting was intended as a mitate (parody) of the lofty erudition implicit in the 'Four Accomplishments'; calligraphy, one of the four pre-requisites of the Chinese scholar (whose appropriation conferred their Japanese counterparts the mantle of cultural legitimacy) is here parodied by a luxuriously-clad woman of the pleasure quarters.
The most renowned pupil of Utamaro I, has like his master only a small number of paintings known, compare with the artist's triptych depicting three bijin-ga in the Boston Museum, illustrated by Tsuji Nobuo, Nikuhitsu ukiyoe, Ukiyo-paintings: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Kodansha 2000, pl.nos.6,8 & 9; and another painting by the artist depicting a standing courtesan (yujo risshi-zu) in the Tokyo National Museum, Japan.
