Courtesans

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Japan's rich native culture was thrown back on its own resources when, from the early seventeenth century, the Tokugawa shogunate closed the country off to the outside world for more than two hundred years. But in the rare painted figures of the Kan'ei era there is an animation and a degree of realism in the representation of the female body that may reflect Western influences and that tells of a highly creative phase in the culture of a country now stable and prosperous. Figures were soon to become more static. The subjects of this screen are elite courtesans, and they are individualized both by their languorous body language and by their clothing. Their faces are only minimally decribed. One parades in her finery, waited on by an alert young attendant; while two others enjoy reading a scroll, perhaps a "morning after" letter from a lover. The splendidly described fabrics of the kosode, including the costly techniques, contributed to the aura surrounding the lives of these high-ranking courtesans.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art