Two Men Watching a Courtesan Writing a Letter

Artist Suzuki Harunobu 鈴木春信 (Japanese, about 1725–1770)

Datelate 1760s

Mediumwoodblock print, ink and color on paper; nishiki-e; hashira-e

Dimensions68.6 x 12.3 cm (27 x 4 13/16 in.)

ClassificationsPrints

Credit LineJohn Chandler Bancroft Collection

Terms

Object number1901.59.2792

DescriptionIn the "show-room" of a seiro (brothel) an oiran is seated upon a red rug and occupied in writing a letter. Though the bars two men are looking in upon her; one of them with an open fan held before his face; Popular subject see Bunsho (TNM cat., I 822). A second state without background with figures at window and with a patterned mat on which the courtesan sits (Yoshida, 1942, 442; Z.H. Keyes, 1990). AIC says fan reads: Haru (Spring) aki (Autumn), iro (color) tsuki (moon) but doesn't read signature on fan. That version printed in green, two shades ob beni, gray, lavender and blue; Note that the figure on the right is that of a young samurai boy with his forelock while the other man has a hood to conceal his identity and holds a fan fashionably before his face.
Label TextActive in pioneering full-color prints (nishiki-e) in about 1765, Harunobu also introduced pillar prints with atmospheric landscape backgrounds, or architectural settings (i.e., with diagonal beam-lines indicating perspective) during the last years of his life. In this print a youth (his adolescent forelock still unshaved above his forehead) and a man, hooded to conceal his identity, peer into the room of a high-ranking courtesan in the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters. The man holds a fan inscribed with the name of a poet, Sashin, and a partly visible poem: haru / aki / iro / tsuki (spring, autumn, color, moon.)

On View

Not on view

Collections