A Beauty

A Beauty, a woodblock print in ink and color on paper by Ichirakutei Eisui in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, depicts an unnamed female figure in the elegant manner that defines the Chobunsai Eishi school. Unlike Eisui's portraits of named courtesans of the Yoshiwara, where a cartouche identifies the sitter and her house, this sheet sets the figure within the broader convention of late-Edo [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga), allowing the beauty to stand for an idealized type rather than for a specific oiran of the licensed quarter. The composition follows Eisui's habitual handling of the figure: elongated proportions, a narrow oval face with downcast eyes, a contour that wraps the kimono cleanly without exaggeration, and a kimono patterning chosen for rhythmic effect rather than dense ornament. The Metropolitan's impression preserves the careful color and quiet expressive register that the Chobunsai Eishi school cultivated as an alternative to the more sensuous bijin-ga of Kitagawa Utamaro and Eishosai Choki. Within Eisui's surviving body of work, the sheet documents the artist's command of the format and serves as a useful comparison piece to his named courtesan portraits in the Art Institute of Chicago.