A beauty holding a ball, from

A bijin print depicting a beautiful woman holding a ball — a refined social accessory suggesting the world of indoor entertainment — from one of Chikanobu's series of elegant feminine subjects. The bijin with a decorative ball or temari (embroidered thread ball) was a conventional composition in the Meiji bijin-ga tradition, the ball serving as both compositional accessory and symbol of graceful leisure. Chikanobu's version brings the characteristic Meiji-era interest in elegant women's dress and social amusements to a subject with long roots in the bijin-ga tradition.