Description

A glamorous courtesan sports an outer robe decorated with large roundels featuring plant motifs including iris and bush clover. Little is known about the life and artistic training of the painter Matsuno Chikanobu, an ukiyo-e artist who painted in a style strongly reminiscent of that of the Kaigetsudō studio. Many of his known paintings are on silk, and executed with high quality pigments, indicating that his primary clientele were wealthy individuals.

Provenance

(Kozo Yabumoto, Hyogo, Japan, sold to Mr. and Mrs. Kelvin Smith); The Kelvin Smith Collection, Cleveland, OH, given by Mrs. Kelvin [Eleanor Armstrong] Smith [1899–1998] to the Cleveland Museum of Art (?–1985); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1985–)

Courtesan

Matsuno Chikanobu

1716–35

Accession Number

1985.249

Medium

hanging scroll; ink and color on paper

Dimensions

Overall: 179.1 x 58.5 cm (70 1/2 x 23 1/16 in.); Overall: 177.8 x 52.7 cm (70 x 20 3/4 in.); Painting only: 91 x 35.5 cm (35 13/16 x 14 in.); Painting only: 91.8 x 39.6 cm (36 1/8 x 15 9/16 in.)