Beauty Reading a Letter (c. 1751–72): Art, History and Details

Beauty Reading a Letter (c. 1751–72) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Tōensai Kanshi (Japanese, active c. 1751–72).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

A woman sits reading a letter. She has taken her right arm out of her sleeve and presses her hand against her pulse as if to still her excitement at the contents of the missive. Another woman’s silhouette is visible behind her through sliding paper doors. She spies on the first woman by peering through a tear in the paper.

Object facts

• Title: Beauty Reading a Letter
• Date: c. 1751–72
• Creator attribution: Tōensai Kanshi (Japanese, active c. 1751–72)
• Culture: Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
• Dimensions: Painting: 86 x 16.4 cm (33 7/8 x 6 7/16 in.); Mounted: 159.4 x 20.3 cm (62 3/4 x 8 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 2026.45

A detail from the museum

Kaimami is the Japanese term for viewing someone covertly, often with romantic intent.

Collection credit

The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Ellen and Bruce Mavec

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.