Quietly Reading at Night, circa 1848

Details

Nukina Kaioku (1778-1863)
Quietly Reading at Night, circa 1848
Signed Kaioku sei, sealed Shusei, Nukina Shigeru in and Kummo
Hanging scroll; ink on silk
48 3/8 x 21 1/8in. (123 x 53.5cm.)

Literature

John M. Rosenfield with Fumiko E. Cranston, Extraordinary Persons : Works by Eccentric, Nonconformist Japanese Artists of the Early Modern Era (1580-1868) in the Collection of Kimiko and John Powers, Vol. 2 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Art Museums, 1999), pp. 215-16, no. 177.

Special notice

This lot is offered without reserve.

Lot Essay

The poem has been translated:

Wu tree, leafless, outside my quiet window –
By a dim lamp I prefer reading a text,
Sharing its thoughts, relaxed as the moon moves,
Or else toiling, digging through the classics.
As my spirit fills the vital universe,
My thoughts gather in the depths of night.
The sounds of the stream rushing over rocks and sand
Occasionally reach my hut.
Quietly Reading at Night.

Translation by Fumiko E. Cranston from Extraordinary Persons, Vol. 2 (1999), p. 215.

The wu tree, aogiri in Japanese, is a variety of paulownia traditionally regarded as a sacred tree on which auspicious "phoenix" birds perch.

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