Utai no Shisho
date: label: Date
content: late 18th-early 19th century
label: Period
content: Edo period
name: label: Artist
content: Numata Gessai 沼田月斎 (1787-1864)
notes: label: Label
content: Fantasy and reality meet in the many images of courtesans and kabuki actors in the “floating world” (ukiyo) of Edo and other urban centers. Prints for the mass market and paintings for more privileged owners celebrated the beauty and artistic abilities of high-class courtesans and geisha, who were often skilled in poetry, calligraphy, music, and dance. Here, a geisha holds a shamisen, a three-stringed musical instrument, as a child looks on.
label: Label
content: This painting is in an unusual nearly square format and signed “Gessai Gabimaru.” He is associated with only a few surviving works, all of them showing courtesans and geisha. The artist’s identity and artistic lineage remain unclear, but this painting, acquired by Charles Lang Freer in 1906, reveals the elegance and grace of the Japanese artist’s figure paintings.
label: Provenance
content: To 1900
label: Provenance
content: Ikeda Seisuke (1839-1900), Kyoto, to 1900 [1]
label: Provenance
content: To 1906
label: Provenance
content: S. Ikeda, Tokyo, to 1906 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1906 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from S. Ikeda in 1906 [3]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [4]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See Original Kakemono and Makimono List, L. 527, no. I, pg. 145, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1. It is probable that S. Ikeda refers to Ikeda Sei’emon (or Seisuke II), the eldest son of the well-known Japanese dealer and collector Ikeda Seisuke (1839-1900). Ikeda Sei’emon maintained shops in Tokyo and Kyoto under the trade name S. Ikeda & Co. After the death of his father, Ikeda Sei’emon sold a number of objects from his father's collection (Ikeda Collection).
label: Provenance
content: [3] See notes 1 and 2.
label: Provenance
content: [4] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Arts in the Edo Period: 1615-1868, part 2 (March 8 to October 19, 2008)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Ikeda Seisuke (1839-1900)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: S. Ikeda (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: Japan
topic: label: Topic
content: Edo period (1615 - 1868)
label: Topic
content: seal
label: Topic
content: shamisen
label: Topic
content: Japan
label: Topic
content: ukiyo-e
label: Topic
content: kakemono
label: Topic
content: Japanese Art
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1906.47
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Color and slight gold on silk
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (image): 69.5 x 74.2 cm (27 3/8 x 29 3/16 in)