Monday, May 26, 2025

Nippon Post "Portrait of a Lady" by Okada Saburōsuke

NIPPON POST on 20 April 1970 issued as part of Philatelic Week a First Day Cover stamps showing the painting of "Portrait of a Lady" with Tsuzumi drum by Okada Saburōsuke (1869-1939). 35,000,000 stamps of this design were issued. 

Okada Saburōsuke's "Portrait of a Lady", oil on canvas, won first prize at the 1907 Tokyo Industrial Exhibition for this painting, which initially was entitled Study in Purple, a reference to the purple cords that lace the drum. The woman wearing a Genroku-style kimono and her hair in a chignon seem about to strike the drum. In the background is a Rimpa-style folding screen with a design of fringed pinks and flowing water. This painting was commissioned by Takahashi Yoshio, who was involved in the management of Mitsukoshi Drapery Store and had touched off the Genroku motif boom. The subject is his wife, Chiyoko.


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