Three Courtesans with a Client

This double-page book illustration is called a <em>sumizuri</em> (meaning to print with sumi ink on paper). It may be an adaptation of a picture book by Kiyonobu I titled <em>Keisei ehon</em>, or Illustrated Book of Courtesans, portraying the most glamorous people in the ukiyo-e world. Masanobu had the greatest influence on the development of the ukiyo-e style during the first half of the 1700s. A publisher, print designer, and painter, he initiated new genres of prints such as the "perspective picture" (<em>uki-e</em>).