Courtesan Burning Mosquitoes as Her Guest Arrives

Courtesan Burning Mosquitoes as Her Guest Arrives, a color woodblock print in chuban format dating to around 1772/73, is held in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. The print captures a quietly intimate moment from the pleasure quarters: a courtesan tending a smoldering mosquito-repellent coil as her client steps into the room. The summer-evening setting is signaled by the mosquito ritual itself — a familiar Edo domestic practice during the humid months — and by the loose, lightweight kimono worn by the figures. Harushige composes the scene with the elongated figures, slightly bent necks, and refined facial typology inherited directly from Suzuki Harunobu, whose post-1770 stylistic legacy Harushige had thoroughly absorbed. The careful attention to the small ritual gestures of the courtesan, and the moment of pause at the threshold as the guest arrives, capture the intimate texture of the demimonde with documentary specificity. The chuban format, the soft palette of muted reds, mauves, and pale yellows, and the elegant compositional restraint mark this as a representative example of Harushige's early-1770s ukiyo-e production, before his eventual abandonment of woodblock prints for Western-style painting under the name Shiba Kōkan.