PiliPili Miniatures New Release (nudity)

[Guy]

Just recieved an email from Le Van Quang with the announcement of his latest release and creation.

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Dear modeller,

Please find herewith the pictures of the new figure in our 90MM series:

NT-03 * Seated Geisha * Edo period
Resin * Scale: 1/20 * Available April 2007

It depicts a courtesan in a tea-house setting, a favourite subject among
Japanese woodblock prints artists, notably Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1808) who
was famous for his depiction of women of the Floating World.

As per the fashion in the late Edo period (end of 18th century) , horimono
(traditional Japanese tattoos) was popular among the working class people:
labourers, courtesans, firemen,... Based on images from watercolour
paintings, woodcuts and popular picture books of the time, the ultimate
reward for the long endurance of pain would be a tattoo of immense beauty."

PiliPili Website - click here

click on above images for enlargement



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[Bluesking]

She's a beauty bro, deserves to do well.

J.

 

[PJ Deluhery]

Spectaular! Another masterpiece.

 

[diosytexas]

very nice. dave.

 

[Dan Morton]

Incredible! Lovely stuff!

All the best,
Dan

 

[Robert. R]

Hmm, geisha naked ? Very strange... This is not true geisha from Edo.This is erzatz !!! Pili Pili you make mistake...

 

[quang]

Indeed Robert, she's not a geisha.

Not because she's naked (even geisha have to take a bath sometimes) but for details of the clothing and hairstyle. For a 'proper' geisha, you'll have to check our older 120mm figure XO-04 THE GEISHA.

I used the word 'geisha' as a temporary title in the sense that for most Westerners, a Japanese woman wearing a kimono and white make-up is a 'geisha'. As a matter of fact, I didn't use the word 'geisha' once in my descriptive text.

A calling customer called her a 'tea-house lady'. It's closer to the truth and has a nice ring to it.

Thank you all for your comments!

Quang

 

[GARD9]

What knock out!

This is top notch Quang!
Most excellent for sure.
I can't wait to see it up close.
G9

 

[renarts]

Quang, as usual a beautiful piece of art. Thanks.

On a side note:

Indeed Robert, she's not a geisha.

Not because she's naked (even geisha have to take a bath sometimes) but for details of the clothing and hairstyle. For a 'proper' geisha, you'll have to check our older 120mm figure XO-04 THE GEISHA.

I used the word 'geisha' as a temporary title in the sense that for most Westerners, a Japanese woman wearing a kimono and white make-up is a 'geisha'. As a matter of fact, I didn't use the word 'geisha' once in my descriptive text.

A calling customer called her a 'tea-house lady'. It's closer to the truth and has a nice ring to it.

Thank you all for your comments!

Quang

With all due respect, and not trying to admonish or lecture you, the reason we westerners are clueless sometimes is we are misinformed. Not maliciously by any means, but your assumption that we would understand the concept better by a general label rather than what it should be correctly called only perpetuates our misunderstanding. i.e. all Japanese woman with painted faces and a kimono are geishas when in actuality the figure could be as stated a tea house lady or courtesan. or in a similar point, Wermacht is too often used for the german army when in actuality it is the national government branch of military, the army, air force and navy as opposed to the political arm aka the Waffen SS. Because the term is bantered about in generalities and misused we have a large group of misinformed people that only serve to endeavor the wrong terminology.
Just as every medieval soldier is not a knight, every japanese soldier is not a samurai, every girl in a kimono is not a geisha.

Again my thanks for your sharing of your work. You as many others here offer a great deal of inspiration through your work. You rock.

Regards,
Mike

 

[Christos]

Beautiful!

 

[vergilius]

I don't know much about Geisha's but she looks great

 

[megroot]

Great work Quang,
I really like it.

marc

 

[John Bowery]

Quang,
Just a super sculpt and very delicate looking. The painting is exquisite.
Cheers
John

 

[Johan]

Well, that will be another addition to my collection - great figure, great subject, reminds me straight away of the Ukiyo-e Art (which I adore), and it is a figure for which I will have to spend a couple of hours looking into that excellent book I have on the Ukiyo-e paintings (don't recall the exact title, but it's something like "Ukiyo-e paintings of the British museum" ... It also has the illustration in it on which you based your earlier Geisha).

I seem to recall from that book that "courtisanes" were allowed some more fancy motives and colours (?) than geishas, so this figure would perhaps offer more possibilities as a painters' figure ? ... I hasten to add however that your Geisha has already given me some great moments of "discovery", fe. the colour combinations that change with the seasons, and the fact that there can be great beauty and harmony in combinations of more "muted" colours.

Again, you produced a great miniature which will take us on a fascinating "discovery" trip into an interesting culture.

Un grand merci !

 

[Wlas]

Stunning work as usual, Quang!!!!

 

[quang]

Thank you all for your comments!

I was a little apprehensive when it comes to a civilian AND female AND (even partly) nude subject, but so far the response is rather positive.

Johan: Indeed, the courtesans' world is altogether different from the geisha's. It's livelier and much more colourful without the restricting rules of the geisha's. So for once, anything would do, from the garish to the sombre.

Keep in mind that the vast majority of females represented in the ukiyo-e prints were courtesans (or popular male actors dressed up as women ). So that would make your research much easier than it would be for a geisha.

Just as every medieval soldier is not a knight, every japanese soldier is not a samurai, every girl in a kimono is not a geisha.

Mike: Indeed! I'm trying to be as precise in my denomination as possible without veering into the pedantic (ie. why call an Asiatic steppe nomad an 'ugrian' when 'mongol' would do?).

But in certain cases like this one, we're dealing with stereotypes (for an international public at that!). The proper term for a high-class courtesan is 'oiran'. Now how many would know what an 'oiran' is?

I admit that 'geisha' was a rather hasty choice. So I turned to Utamaro whose prints were the inspiration for this figure. He called them 'teahouse waitresses'. So 'teahouse waitress' it will be.

Anyhow, thanks Mike, for your concern and for getting me back in line.

Cheers!
Quang

 

[Bruno]

Hi Quang,

a beautiful figurine.
My compliment for your worke!!!

Many greetings

Bruno