A COLLECTION OF FOUR JAPANESE SCROLL PAINTINGS

A COLLECTION OF FOUR JAPANESE SCROLL PAINTINGS
EDO OR LATER, 19TH/20TH CENTURY

Variously depicting birds and figures, painted by Okamoto Shuki (1807-1862) and other artists; together with an embroidered paper scroll with a dragon, 124cm x 50cm max. (5)

The first by Okamoto Shuki (1807-1862), depicting two birds perched on flowering branches, signed Homyojin hitsu, Shuki, and Ansei kinoto-u Shuki ga in (The seal of Shuki, in the year of Ansei 2 -1855); the second signed Senyo sha with seal Senyo, depicting two figures in conversation, inscribed Gyosho Mondo, Ryuki (Liu Ji) (a dialogue between the fisherman and woodcutter, originally by Liu Ji), with a poem reading as The rivers and lakes are full of perilous storms; How much better the woodcutter’s life, Free from worry, content with simple herbs and greens and the reply from the fisherman, What is there in the mountains worth having? I’d rather push off in my little boat— Catch a fish, sell it, and buy myself wine; the third with a crane perched on a rock, signed and sealed Gyokujo, inscribed Ippin tocho no zu (The first rank creature at the height of the tide); the fourth with Chokaro Sennin, a naked female horserider galloping out of his gourd, signed with a red seal mark; together with an embroidered paper scroll with a dragon, signed Mieko saku. (5)