歌川豊広筆　「納涼美人図」|Woman Cooling Herself

Utagawa Toyohiro

ca. 1800 · Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk · Asian Art

A young woman in a sheer kimono sits on a bamboo bench alongside a pond, fanning herself to allay the summer heat. She has kicked off one of her geta sandals, and bent her left leg into a relaxed pose. Fully bloomed irises in the marshy pond indicate the fifth lunar month, the middle of summer. The crest on the fan shows the character Kō or Ko 高 in the center of a triple-mimasu (rice-measuring box) motif that was used between 1772 and 1801 by the popular Kabuki actor Ichikawa Komazō (Matsumoto Kōshirō V, 1764–1838). Assuming that the painting was made while the actor was still using this crest, the work probably dates to about 1800, relatively late in Utagawa Toyohiro’s career, when his depictions of female figures became more elongated and willowy.

Artist

Utagawa Toyohiro

Date

ca. 1800

Medium

Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Purchase, Bequest of Joseph H. Durkee, by exchange and Gift of Paul B. Zeisler Jr., by exchange, 2018