Kogo no Tsubone, from the series "Framed Pictures of Women for the Katsushika Circle (Katsushikaren gakumen fujin awase)"

From the Katsushikaren gakumen fujin awase, a surimono series of Framed Pictures of Women for the Katsushika Circle, this shikishiban depicts Kogo no Tsubone, the consort of Emperor Takakura whose tragic story is told in the Tale of the Heike. Held by the Art Institute of Chicago and dated to around 1822, the print uses a trompe-l'oeil framing device, rendering the figure as if presented inside a wooden frame mounted on a wall, a conceit that lends the surimono the quality of a precious painting reproduced in miniature. Kogo, who fled the court to live as a recluse before being recalled and ultimately forced to take Buddhist vows, was a recurring subject in both no theater and ukiyo-e, embodying the classical themes of female fortitude and courtly melancholy. Gakutei renders her with quiet linear precision against a ground enlivened by metallic pigments, the framing device emphasizing the connoisseurial character of the surimono as an object of intimate display within the Katsushikaren circle.