蹄斎北馬筆　三味線持つ美人図|Female Entertainer with Shamisen

Art Historical Context

This elegant hanging scroll, created by the Japanese artist Teisai Hokuba in the early 19th century, captures a female entertainer gracefully holding a shamisen, a traditional three-stringed instrument central to Japanese music of the time. Produced during the Edo period (1615–1868), the work reflects the era’s vibrant urban culture, where performances by skilled women entertained audiences in theaters and teahouses. The painting’s vertical format and delicate proportions—roughly 31 by 11 inches—make it well-suited for intimate display in a Japanese home or alcove. Rendered in ink and color o...

About the Artist

Teisai Hokuba · 1771–1844

Teisai Hokuba (1771–1844) was a Japanese artist of the Edo period who worked in the tradition of ukiyo-e, the celebrated school of woodblock prints and paintings that depicted the floating world of urban pleasure, theater, landscape, and daily life. A devoted pupil of Katsushika Hokusai — one of the towering figures in the history of Japanese art — Hokuba adopted the prefix of his master's name as...