Daikoku, God of Health, Personified by a Courtesan of the Shimabara, Kyoto
- Date:
- 1952
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Source:
$2,000–$20,000. Beauty prints by this artist are particularly sought after. Portraits of Pacific peoples: $6,000–$12,000. Key value factors: Jacoulet's limited editions (typically 350 impressions) and distinctive subjects make his work consistently sought after.
"Daikoku, God of Health, Personified by a Courtesan of the Shimabara, Kyoto" (1952) depicts a Shimabara courtesan dressed as Daikoku — one of Japan's Seven Gods of Luck, associated with wealth and good fortune — combining the tradition of bijin-ga figure portraiture with the iconography of Japanese mythology. The Shimabara pleasure district in Kyoto was one of Japan's historic entertainment quarters, and Jacoulet's use of a courtesan to embody a god creates a layered composition that plays formal costume drama against the underlying humanity of the sitter.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Daikoku, God of Health, Personified by a Courtesan of the Shimabara, Kyoto was created by Paul Jacoulet (ポール・ジャクレー) in 1952.
Daikoku, God of Health, Personified by a Courtesan of the Shimabara, Kyoto depicts bijin-ga, set at Kyoto.
