Courtesan

About the Artwork

A glamorous courtesan sports an outer robe decorated with large roundels featuring plant motifs including iris and bush clover. Little is known about the life and artistic training of the painter Matsuno Chikanobu, an ukiyo-e artist who painted in a style strongly reminiscent of that of the Kaigetsudō studio. Many of his known paintings are on silk, and executed with high quality pigments, indicating that his primary clientele were wealthy individuals.

Provenance

(Kozo Yabumoto, Hyogo, Japan, sold to Mr. and Mrs. Kelvin Smith) ?–1985: The Kelvin Smith Collection, Cleveland, OH, given by Mrs. Kelvin [Eleanor Armstrong] Smith [1899–1998] to the Cleveland Museum of Art 1985–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Exhibition history

A Private World: Japanese and Chinese Art from the Kelvin Smith Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 14-November 13, 1988).

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.

Quick Overview

Artist: Matsuno Chikanobu (Japanese, active 1716–35)
Date: 1716–35
Medium: hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
Dimensions: Overall: 179.1 x 58.5 cm (70 1/2 x 23 1/16 in.); Overall: 177.8 x 52.7 cm (70 x 20 3/4 in.); Painting only: 91 x 35.5 cm (35 13/16 x 14 in.); Painting only: 91.8 x 39.6 cm (36 1/8 x 15 9/16 in.)
Type: Painting
Classification: Painting
Department: Japanese Art
Credit line: The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith
Accession no.: 1985.249

Open-access museum record · AT-00010099