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Courtesan Holding a Pipe, from the series Five Physiognomies of Beauties (Bijin go-mensô)


「美人五面相」 煙管を持つ遊女
Kitagawa Utamaro I (Japanese, early 1750s–1806)
Publisher: Tsuruya Kinsuke (Sôkakudô) (Japanese)
Japanese
Edo period
about 1803–04 (Kyôwa 3–Bunkyû 1)

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions Vertical ôban; 38.6 x 26 cm (15 3/16 x 10 1/4 in.)
Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.14367
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrints

Catalogue Raisonné Asano & Clark, Passionate Art (1995), #423; Ukiyo-e shûka 3 (1978), list #154.3; Shibui, Ukiyo-e zuten Utamaro (1964), 53.1.3
Signed Utamaro hitsu
歌麿筆
Marks No censor's seal
改印:なし
ProvenanceBy 1911, purchased by William Sturgis Bigelow (b. 1850 - d. 1926), Boston [see note 1]; 1911, gift of Bigelow to the MFA. (Accession Date: August 3, 1911)

NOTES:
[1] Much of Bigelow's collection of Asian art was formed during his residence in Japan between 1882 and 1889, although he also made acquisitions in Europe and the United States. Bigelow deposited many of these objects at the MFA in 1890 before donating them to the Museum's collection at later dates.