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| Tsukimaro: Painting |
Kitagawa Tsukimaro (1804-1836) was Utamaro's student. This is a beautiful painting (colour on silk) in a style where ukiyo-e has absorbed some Western and Chinese elements. A rare combination.
The girl is not Japanese, but clearly Chinese. Probably it is Yang Guifei, concubine of the Tang emperor Xuanzong, who ruled China 712-756. She was known as China's most beautiful woman. The emperor is said to have neglected his empire for her sake, which caused Tang China to decline. She ended up executed by strangulation after the An Lushan rebellion. Her life is the subject of a large number of Chinese dramas and poems.