Nanamachi of the Yotsumeya with Attendants Sumano and Akashi
c. 1787
Medium
Color woodblock print; oban
Dimensions
38.1 × 25.4 cm (15 × 10 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
24115
Art Historical Context
Created around 1787 by Chôbunsai Eishi, *Nanamachi of the Yotsumeya with Attendants Sumano and Akashi* captures a refined moment from Japan’s Edo period. This color woodblock print, known as an *oban*, measures roughly 15 by 10 inches and exemplifies the elegant *bijin-ga* tradition of portraying beautiful women, often associated with the pleasure quarters of Yoshiwara. Eishi, a master of the ukiyo-e school, brought a graceful, almost painterly sensibility to the medium, emphasizing flowing lines and delicate color harmonies. Woodblock printing was a groundbreaking technique in 18th-century J...
About the Artist
Chôbunsai Eishi · 1756–1829
Chôbunsai Eishi, born Hosoda Tokitomi in 1756 to a prosperous samurai family of the Fujiwara clan in Edo, inherited a substantial stipend of 500 koku of rice annually. His grandfather had served as the shogunate's Treasury Minister, and upon his father Hosoda Tokiyuki's death in 1772, Eishi became family head while holding a position in Shogun Tokugawa Ieharu's palace from 1781. Unusually for a uk...