A RARE JAPANESE NAGASAKI SCHOOL SCROLL PAINTING

A RARE JAPANESE NAGASAKI SCHOOL SCROLL PAINTING, KAKEMONO

EDO PERIOD, C.1800

In ink and colour on paper, depicting two Dutch merchants conversing with high-ranking prostitutes, the Westerners wearing long black coats and stylised tricorn hats, the two oiran with elegant kimonos adorned with foliate designs, their elaborate hairstyles featuring multiple ornaments, inscribed above 'Buddha sells doctrine, Patriarchs sell Buddha, Priests of the degenerate ages sell Patriarchs, and Thou sell thy body of five foot, thus satisfying the worldly desires of all creatures' and a poem reading 'the moon frequents nightly the surface of the pond, but does not leave behind its heart nor its shadow', and with two seal marks for Ho and Setuchi, 97cm x 57cm.

Provenance: from a deceased estate, Hampshire. Purchased from Sydney L Moss Ltd, 10th February 2003; a copy of the original invoice is available.

Illustrated and discussed in S L Moss, Odd Men Out, pp.34-35, no.7, where the author explains that this painting is a mitate-e or 'parody picture' because of the provocative signature. The inscription refers to the Great Zen Priest Takuan (1573-1645), a famous painter and the 153rd abbot of the Daitokuji temple in Kyoto. The idea of a priest producing such a sacrilegious painting is certainly irreverent and provocative.