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A Beauty
Fujimaro (Japanese, d. 1830)c. 1810
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States
Many ukiyo-e paintings and prints focus on <em>bijin</em> (美人), or “beautiful people.” Female courtesans and entertainers were the main draw in the pleasure district of Edo (now Tokyo), but young men were also available. The poem here reads as follows: "The full blooming cherry / is not the only flower worth mentioning. / The color of the young plum tree / blooms as well."
The full blooming cherry is a metaphor for mature women, and the plum for young men.
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Details
- Title: A Beauty
- Creator: Fujimaro (Japanese, d. 1830)
- Date Created: c. 1810
- Physical Dimensions: Overall: 180.4 x 48.3 cm (71 x 19 in.); Painting only: 94 x 31 cm (37 x 12 3/16 in.)
- Provenance: (Felice Fedder Oriental Art, Inc., New York, NY, 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, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Type: Painting
- Rights: CC0
- External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/1985.256
- Medium: hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
- Original Title: 美人図
- Inscriptions: Artist's signature and two seals middle right side
- Fun Fact: The handsome youth in the painting is accompanied by a boy carrying a plum branch.
- Department: Japanese Art
- Culture: Japan, Edo period (1615-1868)
- Credit Line: The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith
- Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
- Accession Number: 1985.256
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