 |
|
Home |
|
Enlightened Simpletons: Kanzan & Jittoku: sumi on silk browse these categories for related items... All Items: Antiques: Regional Art: Asian: Japanese: Paintings: Pre 1900: item # 1052625
Ruyi Studio San Francisco By Appointment San Francisco, CA 94131 415.990.3524 Guest Book $160.00 |
|
|
| Meiji Period (circa 1860-1880). A smiling Kanzan is elucidating some esoteric point to a pensive Jittoku who, while resting on his broom, points to a portion of text in an open scroll which Kanzan holds before him. Sumi ink painting and color pigment on aged, brownish-gold colored silk, mounted on paper, edged at top and bottom in blue brocade mounting strips (ten and chi) with hardwood scroll ends (jikusai), depicting Kanzan and Jittoku. Signature and seal lower right corner (artist not yet identified). As with painters such as Sesshu, Kantei and Mincho who only applied subtle color touches to finished sumi paintings, likewise this artist has used very minor color accents (hints of red on the lips and shoes of Kanzan and Jittoku, and a few slashes of white in the garments) although the painting is firmly in the black ink (sumi) style of Suibokuga “water and ink pictures” generally associated with the Zen painters and Chinese literati artists. Popularized during the earlier Muromachi period, and known as “kara-e” are Japanese paintings which depict Chinese subjects. Kanzan and Jittoku—known in Chinese as Hanshan and Shide—was a popular subject for Chinese painters. Often represented with a scroll, Hanshan was a poet of the Tang Dynasty and a body of poetry is traditionally attributed to him. His name means “Cold Mountain” and Hanshan was a Daoist mountain recluse associated, however, with Chan (Zen) Buddhism. Jittoku, a foundling adopted by a nearby Buddhist monastery, worked his entire life in the monastery kitchens and befriended Kanzan whom he fed with table scraps. Jittoku is often shown holding a kitchen broom. In Japan, Kanzan was sometimes depicted as a manifestation of the Bodhisattva Monju (representing superior intellect and wisdom) and Jittoku as the Bodhisattva Fugen (representing compassion and wisdom); however, this painting remains closer in spirit to Chinese depictions of the two as a pair of roguish if enlightened simpletons, the most famous perhaps being Luo Ping’s portrait of the inseparable duo. Their clothing and bodies have been sketched economically with competent and fluid brush strokes and wash, while the artist has reserved his meticulous style to emphasize Hanshan and Shide’s crazed facial expressions and characteristically wild and unkempt hair. Asymmetry imparts a feeling of casual naturalism to the painting though it is actually a well-balanced and highly controlled composition. Shide’s diagonally placed broom is aligned with Kanzan’s scroll; the line of a perpendicular hillside, exactly parallel to Shide’s waist: the intersecting diagonals contain the entire portrait within an x-form occupying the lower half of the scroll, above which a large blank or negative space, represented in golden brown silk, recedes, especially when viewed from below so that the portrait of Hanshan and Shide is thrust into the foreground. The two are rendered inseperable: Hanshan’s shoulder aligns with Shide’s hairline and continues along his back. As in Luo Ping’s famous painting, Hanshan is posed frontally, Shide in profile as if we are seeing two perspectives of the same idea or representation of wisdom which encompasses both intellect and compassion. Condition: No holes, minor losses to outer edges and discoloration of mounting paper; one faint vertical streak; hanging string intact. Wrinkling consistent with age is evenly distributed. Dimensions: Scroll Length: 54”; Scroll Width: 15-1/4”; Painting Height: 32-3/4”; Painting Width: 10-3/4”; Width of Scroll Rollers: 18-1/4”. Copyright © 2011 by Robert McCaffrey for RuyiStudio San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. | ||
|