Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III). A Beauty at the Winding Stream Banquet (Bijin kyokusui no utage) / Fan print, 1834.

Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞], a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代 歌川 豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865).

Signed: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga [香朝楼國貞画] in a red roundel with winged insects.

Date: 1834 — Tenpō 5 (午, Year of the Horse),  plus Approved (kiwame, 極)

Publisher: Iseya Ichiemon [伊勢屋市右衛門] (Japanese, fl. c. 1820s – 1860s), seal tsuji (辻)

Media: Aiban yoko-e uchiwa-e (団扇絵), color woodblock print, 225 x 280 mm.

The Wikipedia article on Kyokusui no Utage states: “A winding stream party (Chinese: 流觴曲水/曲水流觴; pinyin: liúshāngqūshuǐ) is an old Chinese custom in which the participants wait by a winding stream and compose poems before their cups full of rice wine float down to reach them. […] It was also adopted by the Japanese and was called Kyokusui-no-en.” According to Horst Graebner: However, the Japanese article provides different transliterations:きょくすいのうたげ（えん) kyokusui no utage (en) or ごくすいのうたげ（えん） gokusui no utage (en). This indicates that both kyokusui and gokusui may be acceptable readings for the term 曲水 (winding water), though kyokusui appears to be the more commonly used form.

A half-length portrait of a woman in a three-quarter view facing left. She holds a paper scroll with the saaya pattern along the edges in both hands. Her black hair is styled in an elaborate updo with a gilt hairpin and a comb. She wears a multi-layered kimono featuring blue clematis (鉄線, tessen) on a brown outer garment and white plum blossoms on a red collar. The green and brown checkered obi has gilt flowers and tendrils brocade. The background is deep blue with two red circular cartouches—the left containing a peony, the right featuring winged insects alongside the artist’s signature. A third cartouche, shaped like a red lacquer sake cup, bears gold lettering reading Bijin kyokusui no utage (en) [美人曲水宴].

Provenance: René Scholten (Dutch, 1943 – 2001)