A Parade of Courtesans

Description

A group of courtesans parade with servants carrying umbrellas. The print appears to depict a typical scene in the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters of Edo. However, a figure on the left is identified as one of the legendary Soga brothers, 12th-century heroes whose story of valor is retold in countless Kabuki plays. It is possible that this print may depict a scene from an unidentified Soga brothers drama.

Provenance

Ernest Francisco Fenollosa (1853–1908), Boston; by descent to his wife, Sidney McCall (1865–1954; born Mary McNeill, also Mary McNeil Fenollosa), Boston, 1908; sold to Clarence Buckingham (1854–1913), Chicago, 1909; by descent to his sister, Kate Sturges Buckingham (1858–1937), Chicago, 1913; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1925.

A Parade of Courtesans

Hishikawa Moronobu

c. 1690

Accession Number

19061

Medium

Woodblock print; sumizuri-e, kakemono yoko-e

Dimensions

31 × 68 cm (12 1/4 × 26 13/16 in.)

Classification

woodblock print

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Clarence Buckingham Collection