Courtesan and Two Attendants
About 1705
Medium
Hanging scroll; ink and colors on silk
Dimensions
Painting: 83.4 × 33.2 cm (32 13/16 × 13 1/16 in.); With mounting: 171.5 × 46.6 cm (67 1/2 × 18 5/16 in.)
Classification
hanging scroll
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
24463
Art Historical Context
Torii Kiyonobu I's *Courtesan and Attendants* (ca. 1705) is a captivating hanging scroll from Japan's vibrant Edo period, exemplifying the ukiyo-e tradition of "pictures of the floating world." Created in ink and colors on silk this vertical painting measures about 83 cm tall, designed to be unrolled and displayed in intimate domestic settings. The luxurious silk surface allows for luminous hues and delicate gradations, highlighting the artist's mastery of yamato-e influences blended with emerging ukiyo-e realism. The scene portrays a glamorous courtesan from the Yoshiwara pleasure district, ...
About the Artist
Torii Kiyonobu I · 1664–1729
Torii Kiyonobu I (1664–1729), born Shōbei in Osaka, was the second son of Torii Kiyomoto, a prominent kabuki actor specializing in onnagata roles and a painter of theater signboards. He studied painting under his father as well as Yoshida Hanbei and Hishikawa Moronobu, the pioneering ukiyo-e master whose figure styles profoundly shaped his early work. In 1687, at age twenty-four, Kiyonobu accompan...