Women on a Pleasure Boat
c. 1790
Medium
Color woodblock print; left sheet of oban pentaptych
Dimensions
36.2 × 25.1 cm (14 1/4 × 9 7/8 in.)
Classification
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
57258
Art Historical Context
Chôbunsai Eishi (1756–1829), a master of ukiyo-e—the "pictures of the floating world"—captures the elegance of Edo-period Japan in *Women on a Pleasure Boat (c. 1790). This color woodblock print is the left sheet of an ob pentaptych, a-panel composition that unfolds a panoramic scene of refined women enjoying a leisurely river outing. Measuring 36.2 × 25.1 cm, it exemplifies the large-format oban prints popular among urban collectors, blending delicate beauty with everyday luxury. Eishi's signature style shines in his bijin-ga (beautiful women) portrayals, where flowing kimonos, graceful pose...
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...