Actor's dressing table, from "A Picture Book of Stage Fans (Ehon butai ogi)"

This sheet, in the Art Institute of Chicago, comes from the celebrated illustrated book Ehon butai ogi, or A Picture Book of Stage Fans, first published in Edo in 1770 by Ippitsusai Buncho in collaboration with Katsukawa Shunsho. The book consists of portraits of leading Edo kabuki actors in role, rendered as if arranged on the surfaces of folding stage fans, an inventive conceit that pulls together the visual culture of [yakusha-e](/glossary/yakusha-e) with the everyday object of the fan. The present sheet depicts an actor's dressing table, foregrounding the mirror, cosmetics, and accoutrements that prepared a performer for the stage and offering a glimpse behind the scenes that complements the portrait pages within the book. Ehon butai ogi is one of the most influential works in mid-Edo [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) for the development of individualized actor portraiture, and Buncho's partnership with Shunsho on the project marks a high point in the joint shaping of yakusha-e during the late 1760s and early 1770s. The Art Institute of Chicago's holding of pages from the book, including this image, contributes to ongoing study of how the volume functioned at once as a portrait gallery, a commercial product, and a connoisseur's object referencing the world of Edo kabuki and its visual material.