Title

Courtesan Eguchi as the Bodhisattva Fugen with a White Elephant

Artist

Ogawa Haritsu

Culture

Japanese

Period

Edo period, 1615-1868

Medium

Hanging scroll; ink, color and gold on silk; with artist's signature and seal

Museum

Harvard Art Museums

Classification

Paintings

Date

18th century

Dimensions

painting proper: H. 92.1 x W. 35.7 cm (36 1/4 x 14 1/16 in.) mounting, inlcuding suspension core and roller ends: H. 181.6 x W. 54.8 cm (71 1/2 x 21 9/16 in.)

Description

A beautiful woman clothed in a sumptuously decorated blue, white, and gold kimono stands grasping a thin staff in both hands while swirling bands of white clouds trail behind her, gather beneath her feet, and take on the form of a white elephant; beneath these ethereal figures appears an expanse of pale blue waves. The subject of this exquisite painting derives from a fifteenth-century Noh play about a courtesan believed to be a manifestation of Fugen Bosatsu (Sanskrit, Bodhisattva Samantabhadra), a Buddhist deity described in the Lotus Sutra as accompanying the Historical Buddha Shakyamuni and typically depicted in Buddhist art as holding a staff and riding a white elephant. The imagery here is perfectly complemented by a dark blue and white silk mounting painted to echo the swirling clouds and flowing waves in the painted scene. The signature and seal of artist Ogawa Haritsu (1663-1747) appears in the lower right corner of the composition.

Uploaded: 2025-08-17