Shibata Zeshin (1807–1891)
Autumn Flowers and Grasses under the Moon
Color and gold on silk, hanging scroll
With box signed by the artist, note of authenticity and box authentication by Shoji Hoshin
Seal: Tairyukyo
179 x 51 cm (overall)
With box signed by the artist, note of authenticity and box authentication by Shoji Hoshin
Seal: Tairyukyo
179 x 51 cm (overall)
Further images
Provenance
Mogi Family CollectionExhibitions
Mogi-ke kyuzohin nyusatsu. Tokyo: Tokyo Art Club, 1921.
The mounting of this work by Shibata Zeshin is unusual for a Japanese hanging scroll. Normally, the painting is surrounded by a mounting fabric made of silk or silk brocade, but here the painted area expands over the whole format of the scroll. Zeshin had used this approach already for Zhong Kui the Demon Queller in a Circle, where the legendary character Zhong Kui is seen through a window-like circle from which a demon is about to escape. If one kept the shape of the circle and replaced Zhong Kui and the demon with autumn grasses, one would arrive at a composition almost identical to the present work.
A variation of this mounting type is when the artist retains the mounting fabric around the painting but continues to paint directly on the mounting. This creates an impression as if the image was to spill out of its enclosure. In one way or the other, Zeshin was fond of such formal experimentation. He perhaps was inspired from his work as a lacquer artist, that is, a medium where images would normally not have enclosures or frames.
The motifs of the scroll include the moon and autumn grasses such as bush clover, susuki grasses and pink (nadeshiko), traditional motifs that had a long history in painting across all major artistic currents. Especially artists of the Shijo and Rimpa schools of the late Edo to early Meiji periods were fond of the subject matter. It is therefore not surprising to find Zeshin take up the topic as well, given his work is based on sketching from life in the manner of the Shijo school.
Zeshin learned the art of lacquer-making under Koma Kansai and later on studied painting with Suzuki Nanrei. The latter was a disciple of Watanabe Nangaku, one of the master students of Maruyama Okyo, and thus affiliated with the Maruyama school. Nanrei suggested the young Zeshin to also learn from Okamoto Toyohiko in Kyoto, yet the latter was a member of the Shijo school, and it appears these plans never materialized because of Nanrei and Toyohiko’s different affiliations. Nevertheless, Zeshin used time in Kyoto to paint sliding doors at Daioin, a subtemple of Myoshinji, which counts as masterpieces in the style of the late Shijo school.
In this hanging scroll, the rendering of the autumn grasses is consistent with the Shijo school, but the background clearly is not. The artist places the large disc of the moon in the center of the composition, yet it is not surrounded by washes of pale ink, but a vivid expanse of ultramarine blue contrasted by washes of gold paint and gold glitter. Considering the decorative, craft-like appeal one is prone to describe the work as a successful fusion of the Shijo style with Zeshin’s knowledge of applied arts such as lacquer. There are also similarities to Zeshin’s masterpiece, the pair of folding screens Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons at the Tokyo National Museum. The screens were made during Zeshin’s latter years, hence the present scroll may also date to around the same time.
The scroll once belonged to Mogi Sobei, a silk merchant who was at the helm of a highly successful business conglomerate during the Meiji period but went bankrupt in 1920 during the economic depression that followed World War I. His art collection went on auction in 1921. The price at that time for Autumn Flowers and Grasses under the Moon was 5619 Yen, a substantial sum in those days.
Shibata Zeshin (painter, craftsman; 1807–1891)
Painter and lacquer craftsman from Edo (Tokyo). Hailing from a family of shrine carpenters, Zeshin initially trained as a lacquerer with Koma Kansai, but also received lessons from Suzuki Nanrei and Okamoto Toyohiko, masters of the Shijo school. Zeshin pioneered lacquer as a medium in painting (urushi-e) and revived the seigai-ha style of lacquer making. He maintained close contact with intellectuals such as the scholar Rai San’yo and the poet Kagawa Kageki. Zeshin was favored with numerous commissions for the Imperial Palace and chosen to represent Japan at the world exhibitions of Vienna (1873), Philadelphia (1876) and Paris (1878). He was designated an Imperial Court Artist in 1891.
A variation of this mounting type is when the artist retains the mounting fabric around the painting but continues to paint directly on the mounting. This creates an impression as if the image was to spill out of its enclosure. In one way or the other, Zeshin was fond of such formal experimentation. He perhaps was inspired from his work as a lacquer artist, that is, a medium where images would normally not have enclosures or frames.
The motifs of the scroll include the moon and autumn grasses such as bush clover, susuki grasses and pink (nadeshiko), traditional motifs that had a long history in painting across all major artistic currents. Especially artists of the Shijo and Rimpa schools of the late Edo to early Meiji periods were fond of the subject matter. It is therefore not surprising to find Zeshin take up the topic as well, given his work is based on sketching from life in the manner of the Shijo school.
Zeshin learned the art of lacquer-making under Koma Kansai and later on studied painting with Suzuki Nanrei. The latter was a disciple of Watanabe Nangaku, one of the master students of Maruyama Okyo, and thus affiliated with the Maruyama school. Nanrei suggested the young Zeshin to also learn from Okamoto Toyohiko in Kyoto, yet the latter was a member of the Shijo school, and it appears these plans never materialized because of Nanrei and Toyohiko’s different affiliations. Nevertheless, Zeshin used time in Kyoto to paint sliding doors at Daioin, a subtemple of Myoshinji, which counts as masterpieces in the style of the late Shijo school.
In this hanging scroll, the rendering of the autumn grasses is consistent with the Shijo school, but the background clearly is not. The artist places the large disc of the moon in the center of the composition, yet it is not surrounded by washes of pale ink, but a vivid expanse of ultramarine blue contrasted by washes of gold paint and gold glitter. Considering the decorative, craft-like appeal one is prone to describe the work as a successful fusion of the Shijo style with Zeshin’s knowledge of applied arts such as lacquer. There are also similarities to Zeshin’s masterpiece, the pair of folding screens Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons at the Tokyo National Museum. The screens were made during Zeshin’s latter years, hence the present scroll may also date to around the same time.
The scroll once belonged to Mogi Sobei, a silk merchant who was at the helm of a highly successful business conglomerate during the Meiji period but went bankrupt in 1920 during the economic depression that followed World War I. His art collection went on auction in 1921. The price at that time for Autumn Flowers and Grasses under the Moon was 5619 Yen, a substantial sum in those days.
Shibata Zeshin (painter, craftsman; 1807–1891)
Painter and lacquer craftsman from Edo (Tokyo). Hailing from a family of shrine carpenters, Zeshin initially trained as a lacquerer with Koma Kansai, but also received lessons from Suzuki Nanrei and Okamoto Toyohiko, masters of the Shijo school. Zeshin pioneered lacquer as a medium in painting (urushi-e) and revived the seigai-ha style of lacquer making. He maintained close contact with intellectuals such as the scholar Rai San’yo and the poet Kagawa Kageki. Zeshin was favored with numerous commissions for the Imperial Palace and chosen to represent Japan at the world exhibitions of Vienna (1873), Philadelphia (1876) and Paris (1878). He was designated an Imperial Court Artist in 1891.