STANDING FIGURE OF A YOUNG MAN (WAKASHŪ)

Hizen ware, Kakiemon type; porcelain with overglaze colored enamels
Japan, Edo period (1615−1868), 1680s
11⅝ in. (29.5 cm) high

This rare figure is decorated with the Kakiemon palette, in this case iron red, with black, blue, green, and yellow enamels. Striding forward with a smile on his face and holding a folding fan, this stylishly dressed porcelain figure represents a male adolescent (wakashū), somewhere between the ages of fifteen and eighteen. Part of the demimonde of Edo-period Japan, such youths were available for romantic or sexual relations with those who could afford their company. Male figures such as this are much rarer than the popular Kakiemon bijin, standing figures modeled on the leading courtesans of the Shimabara red-light district in Kyoto, which were manufactured in large quantities.