懐月堂度辰筆 文を書く遊女図|Courtesan Writing a Letter
ca. 1715
Medium
Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
Image: 19 1/2 × 23 5/8 in. (49.5 × 60 cm) Overall with mounting: 53 × 28 13/16 in. (134.6 × 73.2 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015
Accession Number
2015.300.119
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the vibrant world of Edo-period Japan (1615–1868), Kaigetsudō Doshin captures a moment of quiet intimacy in *Courtesan Writing a Letter* (ca. 1715). This hanging scroll, rendered in ink and color on paper, depicts a yūjo—a high-ranking courtesan from the Yoshiwara pleasure district—poised elegantly as she composes a love letter. Measuring nearly two feet across, the work unfolds like a private scene from the "floating world" (ukiyo), where fleeting pleasures and human connections defined urban life in early 18th-century Edo (modern Tokyo). Doshin, part of the esteemed Kaigetsudō school, sp...