The town of Arita in the former Hizen Province, northwestern Kyūshū island, was a major centre for the production of porcelains in Japan. Best known for blue and white pieces it also produced polychrome wares as well, including the familiar Imari colourings. Figures of high ranking ladies either intended as bijin (‘beautiful person’ in Japanese) or geisha were made by the Japanese from the late seventeenth century onwards and are found in both Kakiemon and Imari wares but production continued into the nineteenth century and most of the examples found from that period were probably made at the kilns in Arita. The composition here, with a rather more restrained palette of colours than usual, aptly portrays the hauteur of its subject. The paste of the foot firmly confirms a dating to the Meiji period (1868-1912) and certainly no later than around 1880.