鳥居清友筆 羽根突き美人図|Woman with Battledore and Shuttlecock

Torii Kiyotomo

1815–20 · Hanging scroll; ink, color and gold on paper · Asian Art

A gorgeously arrayed woman with a battledore (hanaoki) tucked under her arm fiddles with a feather shuttlecock used in the New Year’s game of hanetsuki, similar to the Western game of badminton. The identity of the artist of this bold ukiyo-e painting requires further investigation. Though there was a print artist of the Torii school who used the art name Kiyotomo, who was active in the early eighteenth century and known for his kabuki actor compositions, this would appear to be a different artist. Since the coiffure, sartorial choices, and overall style more closely resembles those of later artists of the Torii school, such as Kiyomine (1786–1868), we can assume that this is one of the ukiyo-e artists who emerged in the generation after Torii Kiyonaga (1752–1815), renowned as one of the great portraitists of female beauty of the late Edo period.

Artist

Torii Kiyotomo

Date

1815–20

Medium

Hanging scroll; ink, color and gold on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015