Cleveland Museum of Art
Courtesan and Sleeping Attendant
Suzuki HarunobuLinkedCulture matchlcp-b641e8b682cb
- Date
- late 1760s
- Medium
- color woodblock print, with embossing
- Culture
- Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
- Department
- Japanese Art
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Object ID
- 152486
In this print, a courtesan emerges from her bed to find her attendant asleep. As was customary, the courtesan has her obi sash tied at the front, while her servant has hers tied at the back. The strong contrast between the colorful bedclothes and the white of the courtesan’s robe is heightened by the embossing of the fabric folds, lending a three-dimensional effect to her form. The technique involves pressing a carved but unpigmented woodblock against the print surface.
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Provenance & credit
As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.
- Credit line
- The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith
- Provenance
- ?–1942: Henri Vever [1854–1942], France | March 24, 1977: (Sotheby Parke Bernet, London, UK, March 24, 1977, part III, lot 48) | 1977–?: (R. E. Lewis, Inc., California, sold to Mr. and Mrs. Kelvin Smith) | ?–1985: The Kelvin Smith Collection, Cleveland, OH, given by Mrs. Kelvin [Eleanor Armstrong] Smith [1899-1998] given to the Cleveland Museum of Art | 1985–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
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