The Courtesan Tsukioka of Hyōgoya

Ichirakutei Eisui's portrait of the courtesan Tsukioka of the Hyogoya, a woodblock print in ink and color on paper held by the Art Institute of Chicago, dates to about 1797. The Hyogoya, while less frequently represented in late-Edo bijin-ga than the Chojiya, Ogiya, and Matsubaya, was one of the established houses of the Yoshiwara, and Tsukioka, whose name evokes the rising moon, appears here in the elegant manner of Eisui's mature courtesan portraits. The figure is rendered with the elongated proportions and reserved expression of the Chobunsai Eishi school, the contour clean and unhurried, the kimono patterning chosen to give the design rhythm without competing with the face. As in his other portraits of named oiran, Eisui includes a cartouche identifying the sitter and her house, a convention that turned each print into a kind of celebrity image circulated among the patrons of the licensed quarter. The Art Institute's impression preserves the careful color and the slightly mellowed paper that suggest a contemporary printing in good condition, and it stands alongside the artist's portraits of Senzan, Hinazuru, Hanahito, Takigawa, Somenosuke, and Hanaogi as part of an extended sequence devoted to the great courtesans of his moment.