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Description
16" (41 cm.) Refined Isho-ningyo (Fashion Doll) depicting an imperial courtier, is posed standing, having a finely rendered head of wood covered in a lustrous gofun with formed hair in a simple topknot, narrow eyes and a slightly open-mouth expression, dressed in a yusoku-style kariginu silk brocade robe featuring a tortoise shell pattern with silk drawstrings at the cuff, over simple chirimen silk crepe shashiniku trousers. Minor fading of textiles. Edo Period, 18th century. Exhibited Mingei International Museum (2005). Published Ningyo: The Art of the Japanese Doll, p. 177. The Yusoku was the etiquette manual that determined acceptable modes of dress for the imperial nobility. Male clothing was generally ranked in a formal to semi-formal based on the jacket style: sukotai, noshi, konoshi, kariginu and ikan. The kariginu, worn here, was known as a hunting jacket. Although most isho-ningyo focused on samurai, merchant, and popular culture, it was also an effective way to represent members of the imperial classes for the Hina Matsuri.