Not only the signature but also the seals of Tiger are unusual for Rosetsu. For the signature, the artist does not use the standard, more complicated rendering of the character ro (counting nineteen strokes) but a casual, abbreviated version. The intaglio seal reads “Nagasawa Rosetsu” and the relief seal “Chosho no in.” There is at least one more painting of a tiger using the same signature style with this combination of seals (Ota Fine Arts). The seals are also found on another version of a Tiger and on The Monk Shide. This Tiger’s signature features a rendering of the character -setsu similar to the present work, while ro is written with the traditional long character, though in a cursive style. The signature of Rosetsu’s Shakyamuni and Laozi (Maruyama Shijo-ha gakan) likewise uses the cursive version of ro, but the character -setsu is less idiosyncratic than in the present work. The relief seal reads “Rosetsu.” Among dated Rosetsu works, Tiger (also Maruyama Shijo-ha gakan) is the earliest with a date of the third month of An’ei 10 (1781). For this work, “Rosetsu” used the regular style for the signature and the same relief seal “Rosetsu” as for Shakyamuni and Laozi. The signature aligns naturally with the signature styles of the painter’s other works. The signature style and seals begin to change at some point between the present work and the third month of An’ei 10. Tiger thus dates among the earliest works for the artist to use the name Rosetsu, which he began to use in mid-An’ei (c. mid- to late 1770s), indicating the range of time when it was painted.

The abovementioned Tiger (Ota Fine Arts) resembles Crouching Tiger by Maruyama Okyo in the British Museum. For the other two tiger paintings it is also possible to point out similar works by Okyo, hence it would not surprise if the present work also was modeled on Okyo. The pose of a tiger grooming the fur of its rear leg cannot be found in any of Okyo’s works, but a tiger in a similar position appears in a painting by Genki (another of Okyo’s disciples). 

The tiger conforms to Okyo’s style and thus shows little of Rosetsu’s own approach. Yet the rendering of the slanting rock is fully Rosetsu’s. A similar rock is also shown in the background of the Shakyamuni scroll of the diptych Shakyamuni and Laozi, and while in both works the execution appears a bit frail, the motif eventually reappears in Peacock and Peonies of Tenmei 2 (1782; Price Collection), but with more volume and more forceful sense of movement of the brush. 

The inscription by Ryu Soro is a poem of four lines with four characters each: 

    Oh Tiger! The vivid stripes of his fur - heroic, majestic and to be feared, he is a lord among the beasts.

Soro was a Confucian scholar in the service of the Hikone domain (now Shiga Prefecture), but he resigned from that post in An’ei 4 (1775) and after briefly returning to his hometown Fushimi moved to Kyoto. Poems or inscriptions on paintings were usually requested by the patron, so the presence of Soro’s poem does not necessarily mean that Soro and Rosetsu knew each other. But the fact that Soro was acquainted with Okyo is known from the poem he sent to the painter. Moreover, another of his poems is known as an inscription on a painting by Genki, who like Rosetsu was a member of Okyo’s studio. That Soro would be asked to add an inscription to a painting by Rosetsu is therefore not unexpected.

Nagasawa Rosetsu (painter; 1754–1799)
Originally from Sasayama domain; one of the leading masters of the early Maruyama-Shijo school. Rosetsu studied under Maruyama Okyo, and, together with Komai Genki, was regarded as one of the two pillars of the school (soheki, lit. “two gems”). Highly imaginative in his approach, Rosetsu favored bold and daring compositions, technical experimentation in ink and expressive brushwork. His artistic bravado and unusual, often light-hearted treatment of his subject matter gained him a reputation of one of the great eccentrics of the late Edo period.
Ryu Soro (Confucian scholar; 1715–1792) Born in Yamashiro Province (now Kyoto Prefecture), Soro studied under Uno Meika. He admired the scholars Ogyu Sorai and Dazai Shundai and worked as a Confucian scholar at the Hikone domain (Shiga Prefecture). Later in life, Soro returned to Kyoto to concentrate on scholarship and writing. Also active as a kanshi (Chinese-style) poet, he founded the poetry salon Yuransha and is equally remembered for his poetry, calligraphy, and painting.