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Courtesan and Attendant Playing with a Dog

ca. 1716–1736
Not on view
A gorgeously arrayed young courtesan steps out on a verandah while holding a little dog on a red leash. Her teenage attendant tosses a ball to the cheerful dog tied with red rope collar to which a small brass bell is attached. The scene can be interpreted as a parodic representation of the Princess Sannomiya scene from The Tale of Genji where the princess is standing behind a reed curtain and the leash of a cat gets tangled up with the curtain cord and she is unexpectedly seen by courtiers playing kemari (aristocratic kickball) nearby. That scene from the early eleventh century tale becomes the quintessential scene of voyeurism of beautiful women through the ages. Nishikawa Sukenobu replaces the princess with a courtesan of the Kyoto pleasure quarters, the cat with a dog, and the courtiers playing kemari with a young woman with a thread ball.
This painting was formerly in the William Sturgis Bigelow Collection, and sold at auction in 1932.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Courtesan and Attendant Playing with a Dog
  • Artist: Nishikawa Sukenobu (Japanese, 1671–1750)
  • Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
  • Date: ca. 1716–1736
  • Culture: Japan
  • Medium: Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
  • Dimensions: Image: 23 × 32 3/4 in. (58.4 × 83.2 cm)
    Overall with mounting: 60 1/2 × 38 1/2 in. (153.7 × 97.8 cm)
    Overall with knobs: 60 1/2 × 41 5/8 in. (153.7 × 105.7 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Florence and Herbert Irving, 2015
  • Object Number: 2015.500.9.49
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

More Artwork

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Lady Playing Shamisen, with Her Lover and Attendant Nearby, Nishikawa Sukenobu Japanese, Monochrome woodblock print; ink on paper, Japan
Lady Playing Shamisen, with Her Lover and Attendant Nearby
Nishikawa Sukenobu
Lady Interrupting Her Lover, who is Playing the Shamisen, Nishikawa Sukenobu Japanese, Monochrome woodblock print; ink on paper, Japan
Lady Interrupting Her Lover, who is Playing the Shamisen
Nishikawa Sukenobu
A Lady with Three Attendants in the Rain, Nishikawa Sukenobu Japanese, Woodblock print; ink and color on paper, Japan
A Lady with Three Attendants in the Rain
Nishikawa Sukenobu
1731
Woodblock for an Illustration by Nishikawa Sukenobu, Nishikawa Sukenobu Japanese, Wood, Japan
Woodblock for an Illustration by Nishikawa Sukenobu
Nishikawa Sukenobu
18th century
Two Women Reclining on the Floor of a Room and Reading a Book, Nishikawa Sukenobu Japanese, Monochrome woodblock print; ink on paper, Japan
Two Women Reclining on the Floor of a Room and Reading a Book
Nishikawa Sukenobu
ca. 1730

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