Originally offered at $750...

North Pacific, Hawaii, ca. 1930s CE. Made in Hawaii by a Japanese artist. A splendid and sizeable pair of Japanese dolls known as ningyo representing a geisha and an oiran - a top-rated courtesan of the bordello districts which were abolished in the 1950s - each comprised of a stuffed wire skeleton and a plastic face covered with crepe silk fabric, as she stands on a wooden base. Both women wear their hair in elaborate updos embellished with floral or shell decorations as they tilt their faces to their right, each displaying an elegant, painted visage of slender eyes beneath a straight brow, a naturalistic nose, and a petite smile. Both elaborately dressed, the oiran is draped in an elaborate floral kimono in hues of orange, pink, blue, yellow, green, beige, and white, as well as a broad brown obi or belt, a red underskirt, platform sandals known as zori, and a brown pillow strapped to her back. Size (of largest): 7" W x 25.5" H (17.8 cm x 64.8 cm); 26.7" H (67.8 cm) on included custom stand.

Alternatively, the geisha wears a brown and white kimono with a thick gold belt and a floral underskirt, while holding a samisen - a traditional Japanese 3-stringed plucked instrument - in her right hand.

According to Dr. Judy Shoaf, director emerita of the University of Florida College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, "Though the silk-faced ningyo are often generically referred to as "geisha dolls," only a few specifically represent the historical type of the geisha. The training (and regulating) of ladies as professionals in the art of pleasing men is an old tradition in Japan, dating at least from the early 17th century when the Yoshiwara pleasure quarter was established in Edo. The Yoshiwara women were vital to the imaginations both of the woodblock artists and of the kabuki drama. A particularly beautiful and accomplished woman of pleasure might be called a keisei, or 'castle-toppler.' The celebrities among these women of pleasure were called oiran; an oiran could pick her lovers among the wealthiest citizens (or love a poor man as well if she chose, especially in a play!), and she might walk out elaborately dressed (brocade obi tied in front, high platform geta shoes, and the most elaborate hairstyle possible), attended by apprentices and little girls. A different class was the geisha, originally an entertainer who played and sang for the oiran and her customers...A geisha is usually presented as a doll in a rich dark kimono with a simple obi, ready to play her samisen."

Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection, acquired September 2020; ex-Kimura collection, Hawaii, USA, Mrs. Kimura made the dolls in the 1930s

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#168183

Repair to 1 tuning peg of gottan. Expected light surface wear and fading to fabric. Otherwise, both are intact and excellent.