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Two Courtesans with a Letter


文読む二人遊女
Komai Yoshinobu (Japanese, active about 1765–1770)
Japanese
Edo period
about 1765–69 (Meiwa 2–7)

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions Vertical chûban; 26.2 x 19.5 cm (10 5/16 x 7 11/16 in.)
Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.19801
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrints

Catalogue Raisonné MFA, Suzuki Harunobu (exh. cat., 2017), #134; Waterhouse, The Harunobu Decade (2013), #672; Ukiyo-e shûka supp. 2 (1982), pl. 374
Signed Komai Yoshinobu ga
駒井美信画
InscriptionsPoem: Koi sureba/ ukimi sae koso/ oshimarure/ onaji yo dani/ suman to omoeba
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.