A Kakiemon figure of a bijin (beauty)Edo period (1615-1868), late 17th century
Standing and smiling with one hand raised to her breast and the other pressed to her side, her outer robe painted in coloured enamels of iron red, turquoise, blue, gilt and black, her kimono elaborately decorated on the front with swirling streamers interwoven among karakusa ('Chinese grasses') and chrysanthemums floating on a meandering stream on the reverse. 38.8cm (15¼in high)注脚For the type, see Asahi Shinbunsha Seibu Honsha Kikakubu, Kakiemon no sekai: Genryu kara gendai made (The World of Kakiemon from Its Origins to the Present), Fukuoka, Asahi Shinbunsha Seibu Honsha Kikakubu, 1983, pp.42 and 44, nos.44 and 46.

Standing figurines of this type, admired as oriental curiosities in seventeenth-century European palaces and grand homes, were produced in press moulds in large numbers; the only variations occur in the hands, which were slip cast and added separately. Remarkably, no two figures were painted with the same kimono pattern. Such ladies are commonly referred to as 'Kanbun Beauties', after the Kanbun era (1661-1673) when they were first made, although the production continued right up to the 1680's.

The distinctive manner of wearing the hair pulled up in an elaborate topknot wound around an ornamental hairpin and tied with white ribbons was pioneered by ladies in the Imperial palace but was soon adopted by courtesans, as represented by these figurines.