Signaling Seduction: The Courtship Strategies of Ming Era Courtesans

Figures & data

Fig. 1. A diagrammatic representation of the Ming courtesans’ courtship processes.

Fig. 2. 豪飲圖 Changyin Tu, “An Illustration of Cheerful Drinking.”¹¹⁶ The text in the picture indicates that this is “Number one in the First class, Feng Wu-ai 馮無埃.”¹¹⁷ Situated on the left, the courtesan is smiling as she watches the man sitting opposite, with drinking cups in front of them. This is an outdoor setting, judging by the trees and the mountains behind.

Source: Wanyuzi 宛瑜子. Wu Ji Bai Mei 吳姬百媚 [Seductive Courtesans in Suzhou Area]. Beijing: Beijing Library Press, 2002.

Fig. 3. A female entertainer plays the pipa. Her delicate, shapely fingers are an alluring point of focus as she displays her musical skills.¹¹⁸

Source: “Ximen Foolishly Presents His New Wife, Mistress Ping, to His Worthless and Bibulous Guests 傻幫閑趨奉鬧華筵（金瓶梅插畫冊）.” The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, eighteenth century. Album leaf, ink and color on silk.

Fig. 4. Tanxin Tu 談心圖 “A heart-to-heart talk.”¹¹⁹ The words on the right indicate the courtesan’s ranking: “Third in the Second class.” In the middle of the garden, a courtesan and a male scholar who holds a folding fan sit facing each other, with a folding screen behind them.

Source: Wanyuzi 宛瑜子. Wu Ji Bai Mei 吳姬百媚 [Seductive Courtesans in Suzhou Area]. Beijing: Beijing Library Press, 2002.

Fig. 5. Jiaohuan Tu 交歡圖 “An Illustration of Pleasure.”¹²⁰ The words on the right state: “Eleventh in the second class, Xiang Ruyu 項如玉.” Ruyu is the courtesan on the left, sitting together with a male guest in a garden surrounded by rocks, flowing water, and plants. They sit at a banquet table with drink and food, the man holding a wine glass in his left hand and wrapping his right arm around her shoulder. The courtesan sits on his lap with a glass in her left hand. The two are smiling and facing each other.

Source: Wanyuzi 宛瑜子. Wu Ji Bai Mei 吳姬百媚 [Seductive Courtesans in Suzhou Area]. Beijing: Beijing Library Press, 2002.

Fig. 6. “Master Ximen Accepts the Service of Courtesan Cinnamon Bud” 西門慶疏籠李桂姐,¹²¹ depicting an indoor drinking banquet scene.

Source: “Master Ximen Accepts the Service of Courtesan Cinnamon Bud 西門慶疏籠李桂姐（金瓶梅插畫冊）.” The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, eighteenth century. Album leaf, ink and color on silk.