This hanging scroll is included in Vol. 4 of The Complete Works of Shiba Kokan and as fig. 55 in Shiba Kokan: Life and Work. It is dated to the early Tenmei period (early 1780s). In the signature, it states omei (at the request of), so it was likely a commission by some distinguished patron, yet we do not know who this person was. A feudal lord (daimyo) might be a possibility. Kokan was in contact with a number of feudal lords, for instance, he once performed an impromptu painting session before the lord of the Sendai domain (Shunparo hikki [Shunparo’s notes]), Date Shigemura, and there is an extant painting that was created as a joint work with Satake Shozan, the lord of the Akita domain. There are other known works by Kokan that state “at the request of.” All of them are done in a Japanese style and executed with the same careful approach as the present work. The signature also states that the “pine tree was done in the manner of Liu Songnian,” yet to what work this refers is uncertain. The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting includes an illustration of a pine tree in the snow by Liu Songnian, and certainly there is some similarity in how the branches bend downwards. Further in the signature it states that “the figures are done in the manner of Su Hanchen,” but they actually do not resemble those of Su Hanchen; only in the way how gofun (shell white) is used to emphasize the nose and other parts of the face there is a hint of similarity. Among Kokan’s figure painting, we know of works inscribed “in the manner of Zhou Chen of Ming,” and Shunparo hikki states that he tries to “paint Japanese beautiful woman by using the coloring methods of Qiu Ying and Zhou Chen.” 

There are three more works with a similar composition of a beauty standing in front of a wooden gate next to a tree. All of them include the motif of the moon and are hence known under the title Beauty under the Moonlight at a Brushwood Gate. Fig. 54 (MOA Museum of Art) of the abovementioned Shiba Kokan: Life and Work, and fig. 56 (whereabouts unknown) further develop the motif of the pine tree from the present work. For the folds of the kimono in fig. 54, Kokan applied shading, and fig. 56 omits outlines, relying only on shading and thus moving towards a Western-influenced style. This tendency would lead to works such as the collaboration with Satake Shozan Western Woman (fig. 71 in the same book, formerly Manno Museum of Art).

However, it is also possible to reconstruct the development of Kokan’s style for painting beautiful women backwards. For instance, the signature of Beauty in the Snow (fig. 42, Cleveland Museum of Art) states “painted in the manner of Zhou Chen of Ming.” The posture of the woman resembles the present work, and nose and face are emphasized in white. The rest of the approach is similar to painted ukiyo-e. Beauty in the Snow (fig. 22, Yamato Bunkakan) is executed with a sharp line for the kimono and the details of the architecture, and completely conforms to the standards of painted ukiyo-e. The connection to the world of ukiyo-e is further confirmed by the signature “Shotei Fujiwara Harushige” which is an ukiyo-e style artist name. Kokan also used the seal “Harunobu,” implying that he considered himself as the second-generation Suzuki Harunobu. Summer Moon (fig. 16, Freer Gallery of Art) and Winter Moon (fig. 17, Boston Museum of Fine Arts) were intended as a set of two hanging scrolls. The figures are painted small, approaching the manner of Suzuki Harunobu. Fig. 17 later became the blueprint for fig. 42, and the small stream of fig. 16 is echoed in a similar detail in the present scroll.

Shiba Kokan (painter; 1747–1818)
Born in Edo, Kokan studied painting first under Kano Hisanobu, but later worked in the ukiyo-e style in the manner of Suzuki Harunobu and the Nanpin style (Nagasaki school) as practiced by So Shiseki. Kokan was part of a circle involving also the scientist and writer Hiraga Gennai and the artist Odano Naotake that explored Western-style painting. He undertook successful attempts in emulating the techniques of Western oil painting, such as landscapes and figure painting. Kokan was one of the forerunners in the disseminating of Western concepts in science and art. Also known as a prolific writer, including works such as Shunparo’s Notes and Account of a Western Journey.