Signed: Eishō ga (栄昌画)
Publisher: Yamaguchiya Chūsuke
(Marks 590 seal 05-001)
Related links: Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna;
On the courtesan's outer robe is a single roundel decoration filled with a pine needle motif. Right next to that, to our left, is a comb in the hair of the kamuro. It too carries that same motif. That may suggest that this woman and her assistant come from the Matsubaya, a high-end house of prostitution. Matsu is the word for 'pine tree'. Eishō and others are known to have portrayed women from that establishment.
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Illustrated in Jacob Pins, The Japanese Pillar Print, plate 894, page 316.