The Chiyozuru Teahouse, from an untitled series of Three Portraits of Waitresses with Shadows on Door Panels Behind

On the lantern at the upper right of this print, the name of the Chiyozuru teahouse is partially visible. A woman sits in front of shoji screens that reveal the shadows of the revelers behind her. A pair of hands reaches between the screens to offer her some sake from a pot. Does her gesture indicate thanks, or is she politely declining? Informed viewers in the 1790s would have known that this must be the famous beauty Orise, a server at Chiyozuru.

A prolific designer, illustrator, and painter, Kitagawa Utamaro was a major creative force at the turn of the 19th century. In the 1790s, he became recognized as the foremost master of beauty pictures and, in a cultural climate steeped in the idea of acquired expertise, promoted himself in his prints as a connoisseur of beauty. More prints by Utamaro appear elsewhere in this exhibition.