Keisai Eisen (渓斎英泉) (artist 1790 – 1848)
Lovers in a boat from the series 'Secret Conversations with Courtesans' (Keisei higo - 契情秘語)
1825
15.375 in x 10.125 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese color woodblock print
YouTube video link from an exhibiton
Chiba City Museum of Art
National Museum of Asian Art
Hokkaido Museum of Art This elegant print is only one of a set of 12, none of which show explicit sexual acts. This type is referred to as an abuna-e.
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Illustrated:
1) in color in 浮世絵師溪斎英泉, 千葉市美術館 (Keisai Eisen: Artist of the Floating World, Chiba City Museum, 2012, #18, p. 50.
2) in color in Beauty & Desire in Edo Period Japan by Gary Hickey, National Gallery of Australia, 1998, fig. 10, p. 18.
The catalogue entry reads on page 21:
"In a print by Keisai Eisen (1790-1848) - possibly a frontispiece to a shunga album - a typical Eisen beauty, distinguished by her long thin face, rests her elbow on a brazier cover as she leans suggestively over her lover, whispering risqué remarks - the title of this twelve-print series is Keisei higo [A Beauty's Lewd Words]... The couple ensconced within the confines of a pleasure boat in mid-winter, contain their warmth beneath a quilt; the flushed face of the courtesan suggest that her inflamed passions will provide sufficient warmth for both. She holds a wad of tissue, [onkotogami] - a typical erotic detail. The Chinese character sen on the corner of the quilt covering the courtesan reveals that the artist is Eisen."
The footnote to this passage, #49, reads: "The character is placed next to another commonly used as a suffix for ship [maru] (a reference to the pleasure craft carrying the two lovers) thereby disguising Eisen's signature within the title of this illicit work."
3) in color in Ukiyo-e Masterpieces in the Collection of Chiba City Museum of Art (千葉市 美術館 所蔵 浮世絵 作品選 - Chiba-shi Bijutsukan shozō ukiyoe sakuhinsen), 2001, p. 66, #144.
erotic prints (shunga - 春画) (genre)