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Lot Essay
PUBLISHED:
Azabu Museum of Art, and Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, eds., Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e meihin ten: Azabu bijutsukan shozo/Ukiyo-e Painting Masterpieces in the Collection of the Azabu Museum of Art, introduction by Kobayashi Tadashi, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Azabu Museum of Art; Osaka: Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, 1988), pl. 77.
Dai Hokusai ten: Edo ga unda sekai no eshi (Great Hokusai exhibition: A world artist born of Edo), edited by Asahi Shimbun, Tobu Museum of Art, Otsu City Museum of History, Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art, Nagata Seiji, editor-in-chief, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Asahi Shimbun, 1993), pl. 24.
Kobayashi Tadashi, ed., Azabu bijutsu kogeikan (Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts), vol. 6 of Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e taikan (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1995), pl. 59.
Nakamura Hideki, Hokusai mangekyo: Porifueniiteki shutai e/Gazing at Hokusai's Constellation: Toward polyphonic vision (Tokyo: Bijutsu Shuppansha, 1990), p. 71.
Narazaki Muneshige, Hokusai to Hiroshige (Hokusai and Hiroshige), vol. 8 of Haiga, manga, fuzokuga (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1971), nn.
From about 1805 to 1815, Hokusai designed book illustrations for historical romances, many of which were based on classical Chinese war tales. Among them were the images he created for sixty installments of the serialized novel Shinpen suiko gaden, a Japanese-language version of the Ming-dynasty novel Shuihuzhuan (The Water Margin), translated and adapted by Takizawa Bakin and Takai Ranzan. Precise identification of the Chinese warrior in the diminutive painting shown here is impossible, but it may be Li Kui (Riki in Japanese) or Ma Chao (Ba Cho in Japanese).
The hand-written seal is usually interpreted as a stylized version of Hoku (north), the first character of the artist's name. Hokusai inscribed similar handwritten ciphers on a number of paintings, illustrated books, and at least one surimono dating from around 1800 to 1813.
Azabu Museum of Art, and Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, eds., Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e meihin ten: Azabu bijutsukan shozo/Ukiyo-e Painting Masterpieces in the Collection of the Azabu Museum of Art, introduction by Kobayashi Tadashi, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Azabu Museum of Art; Osaka: Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, 1988), pl. 77.
Dai Hokusai ten: Edo ga unda sekai no eshi (Great Hokusai exhibition: A world artist born of Edo), edited by Asahi Shimbun, Tobu Museum of Art, Otsu City Museum of History, Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art, Nagata Seiji, editor-in-chief, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Asahi Shimbun, 1993), pl. 24.
Kobayashi Tadashi, ed., Azabu bijutsu kogeikan (Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts), vol. 6 of Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e taikan (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1995), pl. 59.
Nakamura Hideki, Hokusai mangekyo: Porifueniiteki shutai e/Gazing at Hokusai's Constellation: Toward polyphonic vision (Tokyo: Bijutsu Shuppansha, 1990), p. 71.
Narazaki Muneshige, Hokusai to Hiroshige (Hokusai and Hiroshige), vol. 8 of Haiga, manga, fuzokuga (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1971), nn.
From about 1805 to 1815, Hokusai designed book illustrations for historical romances, many of which were based on classical Chinese war tales. Among them were the images he created for sixty installments of the serialized novel Shinpen suiko gaden, a Japanese-language version of the Ming-dynasty novel Shuihuzhuan (The Water Margin), translated and adapted by Takizawa Bakin and Takai Ranzan. Precise identification of the Chinese warrior in the diminutive painting shown here is impossible, but it may be Li Kui (Riki in Japanese) or Ma Chao (Ba Cho in Japanese).
The hand-written seal is usually interpreted as a stylized version of Hoku (north), the first character of the artist's name. Hokusai inscribed similar handwritten ciphers on a number of paintings, illustrated books, and at least one surimono dating from around 1800 to 1813.