Takashima, from the series "A Collection of Flower-like Faces of Beauties (Bijin kagan shu)"
late 18th/early 19th century
Medium
Color woodblock print; oban
Dimensions
37.7 × 25.3 cm (14 13/16 × 9 15/16 in.)
Classification
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
57257
Art Historical Context
**Takashima, from *A Collection of Flower-like Faces of Beauties (Bijin kagan shu*)** Chôbunsai Eishi (1756–1829), a leading ukiyo-e artist of Japan's Edo period, crafted this exquisite color woodblock print around the late 18th or early 19th century. Part of his celebrated *Bijin kagan shu* series, it portrays Takashima, one of many ethereal beauties likened to blooming flowers. Eishi, trained in traditional Japanese painting, elevated ukiyo-e—literally "pictures of the floating world"—with his refined depictions of courtesans and geisha, capturing the elegance of Yoshiwara, Edo's famed plea...
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...