Kaigetsudo Ando
Early 1700s

"Courtesan Entering a Mosquito Net"
a hanging scroll painting - AD 1704-16


A mosquito-net tent has been set up over tatami mats spread with summer quilts. A courtesan turns to glance backwards as she enters. She is wearing a kimono of cool summer colours patterned with boughs of wisteria. The design uses yûzen dyeing techiques and tie-dyed knots enriched with gold embroidery, all of which have been skilfully differentiated by the artist. The gold roundels are built up in three-dimensional swirls of gesso covered in gold paint. The courtesan's fan (uchiwa) has a design of seasonal vine leaves.The compositions of Kaigetsudô Ando's paintings of beautiful women were more inventive than those of his pupils who normally adopted the standing figure pose. Here Ando uses a delicacy of line which gives a gracefulness to the ample figure, as she raises the net with a slender hand. She is framed by the arching shape of the opening in the mosquito-net, while the thick skein of her hair is echoed in the curving folds of netting on the floor.The signature reads: 'Nihon giga Kaigetsudô Ando kore [o] zu [su]' ('Light-hearted painting in Japanese style, this picture was done by Kaigetsudô Ando').

Arthur Morrison Collection - Gift of Sir W. Gwynne-Evans, Bt.

Further Reading/Sources:
JA JP 1387 (1913.5-1.0348) Department of Japanese Antiquities (study collection)

T. Clark, Ukiyo-e paintings in the British Museum (London, The British Museum Press, 1992), p. 72, no. 21

M. Narasaki (ed.), Hizô Ukiyo-e taikan, vol. 1 (Tokyo, Kôdansha, 1987), no. 92 (commentary by Kobayashi Tadashi)