Japanese Print "Courtesan Looking at Blooming Bush Clover" by Isoda Koryusai
Artist:Isoda Koryusai
Title:Courtesan Looking at Blooming Bush Clover
Date:about 1773
Details:More information...
Source:Worcester Art Museum
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Description:
A courtesan has stepped out to get fresh air. She stands upon the engawa of the seiro and is looking at a hagi (bush clover) plant in full bloom in the garden below. She wears a kimono of dull violet hue with a pattern of snow-ladden willow branches. Her obi is of green and beni (rouge) A courtesan, dressed in a kimono patterned with snow-covered weeping-willow branches, exits on the corridor veranda (engawa) of a pleasure house. She takes a quiet moment to admire the bush clover (hagi), one of the "Seven Grasses of Autumn," blooming in the garden. Her elegant pose and trailing hems, as well as the delicate blossoms and the inclusion of stylized clouds, infuse the print with references to classical art and poetry. The opened sliding door (shoji) and its translucent paper give the viewer an additional, intimate glimpse of the striped kimono and faint silhouette of the