Courtesan Standing Beside a Pot of Pinks
Artist/Culture
Suzuki Harunobu 鈴木 春信
(Japanese, about 1725–1770)
Dateabout 1768–1769
Mediumwoodblock print, ink and color on paper; nishiki-e; hashira-e
Dimensions68.6 x 11.6 cm (27 x 4 9/16 in.)
ClassificationsPrints
Credit LineJohn Chandler Bancroft Collection
Object number1901.194
DescriptionStanding figure of a young woman who is placing a long hairpin in her coiffure, and is looking down at a pot of pinks which stands upon the floor at her feet. Summer Kimono (title: eternal summer, name of a pink.) Formerly titled "Pinks (Everlasting Summer) (Tokomatsu)".Label TextSuzuki Harunobu (d. 1770) Courtesan Standing Beside a Pot of Pinks About 1768-69 Signed: Suzuki Harunobu ga (drawn by Harunobu) Woodblock print, ink and color on paper; nishiki-e; hashira-e John Chandler Bancroft Collection, 1901.194 Harunobu's characteristically youthful, graceful women were particularly suited to inhabit the narrow shape of the pillar print. In this work a courtesan, returning from her bath, adds a pin to her hairdo already fashioned with tortoise-shell combs. The bare-footed young woman is clad in a thin, suggestive red under-robe and a sheer summer kimono and holds a round fan (uchiwa) with an iris design. She looks at the potted flowers nadeshiko, or pinks, blooming in a jardinière, perhaps thinking that the hot days are soon coming to an end. Pinks, which start to bloom in lateProvenanceJohn Chandler Bancroft, Boston, MA
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