The Burke Collection
Letter from Courtesan Sono (その)
Click to enlarge
542-1

Catalogue information

Edo period, 19th century

Hanging scroll; ink on paper

29.9 x 56.6 cm (113/4 x 22 1/4 in.)

Donated to the Minneapolis Institute of Art by the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation in 2015

Literature

Guth 1992, fig. 9.
Guth, Christine
1992
Asobi: Play in the Arts of Japan. Exh. cat., Katonah Museum of Art, San Antonio Museum of Art, and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Katonah, N.Y.: Katonah Museum of Art.

See full bibliography

See also

This artwork was published as catalogue entry 542 in Volume I of Art through a Lifetime.

Additional details

Text

Dear Omiya, / I am writing this to you to celebrate the New Year. I am very happy that all of you are well and flourishing to welcome the new spring. On my side, all of us are getting older like everyone else, so please be reassured. The thing I am sending you is not very refined, but I want you to see it as a gift from me for the celebration. I just want to celebrate for years to come. Please give my best to the new courtesans. / Sincerely, / Sono / [P. S.] I hope your life will be prosperous. I have touched only on a few things and left many others [unmentioned].

Signature

Sono