Artist: Keisai Eisen [渓斎 英泉] (Japanese, 1790 – 1848)

Signed: Keisai Eisen ga (渓齋英泉画)

Publisher: Masudaya Ginjirō [増田屋銀次郎] (Japanese, 1830s – c.1871); seal name Masugin (増銀); Marks: 08-005 | 304a

Date: No date/censor seal (privately printed?)

Media: Aiban yoko-e uchiwa-e (団扇絵), color woodblock print, 230 x 295 mm

Description:
Half-length portrait of a young woman in three-quarter view, turned slightly to the left, holding a handheld paper lantern (tesage andon, 手提行灯, which casts light on her face. She wears a blue kimono adorned with chrysanthemum roundels over a red under-kimono, with a blue collar featuring a meander pattern. Her hair is elaborately styled with combs and kanzashi hairpins, indicative of her profession as a geisha. A willow tree is depicted in the background. The design on the lantern likely repeats the publisher’s device in red.

Estimated production date: c. 1830s.