CC0 · no rights reserved
Utai no Shisho
From the collection of National Museum of Asian Art (Freer/Sackler). Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
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.
National Museum of Asian Art (Freer/Sackler)’s own descriptionSubjects
Credit lineUtai no Shisho. late 18th-early 19th century. Numata Gessai 沼田月斎 (1787-1864). National Museum of Asian Art (Freer/Sackler), Gift of Charles Lang Freer. CC0.
