# A Beauty Behind a Screen

- By: Miyagawa Chôshun (Japanese, 1683-1753)
- Date: About 1750
- Medium: Hanging scroll; ink and colors on silk
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: 30.4 × 37.1 cm (12 × 14 5/8 in.), including mount and knobs: 127.6 × 56.2 cm (50 1/4 × 22 1/8 in.)
- Culture: Japan
- Credit line: Avery Brundage, Frederick and Nathalie Gookin, Samuel M. Nickerson and Louise Lutz Endowments
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/151047)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/web/80a08a0913d7799df5cc102dc0e4251a.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

This young courtesan lounges in the summer heat, opening her robe at the neck to get some relief. She reclines next to a folding screen with an image of a cherry tree in bloom. Set conveniently nearby are a shamisen—a Japanese traditional instrument—and a songbook. Courtesans were often trained to play as part of their repertoire of entertainments.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0