Artist: Torii Kiyonaga 清長 (1752-1815)
Title: Music Teacher Greeting a Girl for her Koto Lesson 囲われも二三人程琴の弟子
Series: Humorous Poems of the Willow 誹風柳多留 Date:ca. 1785
A beautiful young woman wearing an informal purple kimono greets a girl at the entrance to her home, her hand sliding atop a stairstep in an lovely, casual gesture. She must have just descended the stairs, and on a pole behind her we see hanging lengths of fabric, perhaps to dry. In the other room we can glimpse the corner of a koto instrument, next to a tray with saucers, perhaps for sake. We can infer from the poem that the beauty is a “kept” woman, and that this is a young pupil who has arrived for her koto lesson. This series is based on a collection of humorous poems issued annually from 1765 on by Kari Senryû and his followers. Lower right, we see a sword laying on the floor atop some paper, perhaps inferring the presence of a gentleman somewhere. The whole scene reads as very informal and intimate, the kind of scene that many ukiyo-e customers would like to be privy to. The poem reads “Even a kept mistress gives koto lessons to two or three pupils”. From the collection of Henri Vever, the preeminent French jeweler who began collecting ukiyo-e in the 19th century. Provenence: Henri Vever
Condition: Excellent impression and color; very good condition. Light stains upper corners and hinging remnant, verso. Dimensions: chûban (26 x 19.5 cm)
Literature: Chiba Museum, Torii Kiyonaga (2007), list #186-1 (no photo); Ukiyo-e shûka 2 (1985), list #236.1; Hirano, Kiyonaga (1939), #722, pl. XXXVII. Shown in Vever Collection Sale at Sotheby’s by Hillier; number 369, Vol I, 1976. See MFA Boston (their in inferior condition.) Signature: Kiyonaga ga
Seal: Red "spider" seal of Vever, lower right.
SKU: KIC021
