Kitano Tsunetomi was a leading Nihonga (modern Japanese-style painting) artist in Osaka and he made many bijinga portraits of beautiful women. The combination of peach blossoms and a woman wearing Chinese clothes in this painting brings to mind images of Xi Wangmu, the "Queen Mother of the West," and also Yang Guifei. The Queen Mother of the West is a fairy who appears in Chinese legends and is said to keep an orchard of peaches capable of bestowing immortality. Yang Guifei, on the other hand, was the wife of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty and was known for her unparalleled beauty. Stories are told of her enjoying a banquet of peaches with the emperor, and this was a popular motif. So, which of these women might be the subject of this painting? Perhaps it is neither, and Tsunetomi has depicted a fictional character? What’s certain is that by blurring the color of the woman’s clothes with the background, he has tried to create a mystical atmosphere, as though the woman possesses some mysterious power.
(HIBINO Miyon)
Kitano Tsunetomi was a leading Nihonga (modern Japanese-style painting) artist in Osaka and he made many bijinga portraits of beautiful women. The combination of peach blossoms and a woman wearing Chinese clothes in this painting brings to mind images of Xi Wangmu, the "Queen Mother of the West," and also Yang Guifei. The Queen Mother of the West is a fairy who appears in Chinese legends and is said to keep an orchard of peaches capable of bestowing immortality. Yang Guifei, on the other hand, was the wife of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty and was known for her unparalleled beauty. Stories are told of her enjoying a banquet of peaches with the emperor, and this was a popular motif. So, which of these women might be the subject of this painting? Perhaps it is neither, and Tsunetomi has depicted a fictional character? What’s certain is that by blurring the color of the woman’s clothes with the background, he has tried to create a mystical atmosphere, as though the woman possesses some mysterious power.
(HIBINO Miyon)