Portrait of a Beauty

Object Details

• Artist

  Shuransai Zengo (late 18th-ea.19th c.)

• Inscription

  Inscription by Okada Gyokuzan 岡田玉山 (?-1807 or 1808)

• Description

  A (bust) portrait of an unidentified woman holding an opened gold-leafed fan, enveloped by an inscription by Gyokuzan. The mounting is a printed series of random and fragmentary quotations from the Tale of Genji.

  Storage box with inscribed lid and paper label. Handwritten documents in the box.

• Inscriptions

  1. (Jim Ulak, 21 August 1995) Inscription by Gyokuzan. For discussion of this see comment #1.

• Label

  This work presents, in word and image, a candid record of rivalry between artists. Gyokuzan, the author of the long inscription on this painting, was a well-known Osaka book illustrator. In the text he obliquely and derisively describes the popularity of the Kyoto artisit Gion Seitoku. Gyokuzan then praises the talent of his own student, Zengo, who produced the courtesan painting beneath the text, noting that Seitoku's talent is easily matched.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  The Arts of Japan (July 14, 2012 to January 13, 2013)

  Seasons: Arts of Japan (February 5, 2011 to January 13, 2013)

  Selections from the Japanese Collection (March 22 to November 29, 1999)

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1700s, 1710s, 1720s, 1770s, 1780s, 1790s, 1730s, 1740s, 1750s, 1760s, 1800s, 1810s, 1820s, 1830s, 1610s, 1650s, 1640s, 1630s, 1620s, 1690s, 1840s, 1680s, 1850s, 1670s, 1860s, 1660s

• Name

  Okada, Gyokuzan, Shuransai, Zengo

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Fans, Art, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art, Portraits, Woman, Bijinga, Kakemono

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Paintings