This is a handsome Hanging Scroll with a venerable painting on paper by the renowned and influential artist, Kishi Ganku, who was a noted painter of the late Edo period and founder of the Kishi school of painting. He most likely made this painting around 1780. The mounting may be original.
Born in 1749, in Kanazawa, Ganku studied many painting styles including those of Chinese painter Shen Nanpin and the Maruyama school, and arrived in Kyoto around 1780. By the late 1700s, Ganku's paintings were appreciated by patrons that included the imperial family, leading to a position under Prince Arisugawa. His students included his son, Gantai (1782-1865), son-in-law Ganryou (1797-1852), adopted son Renzan (1804-59), Yokoyama Kazan (1784-1837), Shirai Kayou (fl. ca 1840-60), and Kawamura Bumpou (1779-1821). He was made honorary governor of Echizen (Echizen no kami,) toward the end of his life. Ganku died on January 19, 1839, in Kyoto.
His works were avidly collected during his own lifetime and are in many collections around the world, including the Brooklyn Museum, the Walters Collection in Baltimore, the National Museum of Kyoto, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the British Museum and the Ashmolean at Oxford University, the National Museum in Tokyo and every important collection in Japan.
Tigers were one of his favorite subjects. And this painting is a very good example of the best of Ganku's tigers.
In the present painting, he does his best to give us a convincing representation of a fierce Tiger, lurking out of a deftly rendered stand of bamboo. But Tigers are not indigenous to Japan, and Ganku was working well before the time that his island nation opened to the rest of the world in the mid-1800's. So it highly unlikely that he ever actually saw a Tiger. But he and other Japanese artists of his time were fascinated with this fearful predator. The only actual information they had at their command were tales of Portuguese traders who were allowed to trade with Japan at this time and perhaps a pelt which they brought with them.
Ganku has the distinctive striped coat of his Tiger, but he has no knowledge of the skeletal and muscular structure of the beast. And so he foreshortens the body, artfully hiding it behind bamboo leaves and concentrates his attention on the stripe of the pelt and that fantastic head.
These curious and charming conditions aside, Ganku shows his true mastery both in the bold composition, ending in a beautifully curling tail, his superb painting technique and use of a delicately balanced and limited palette.
I especially enjoy the contrast between the almost monochrome figure and the small touches of color in the face, especially those terribly piercing yellow eyes
This is a most excellent painting and a very good example of Ganku's aesthetic inclinations and his technical prowess.
This scroll measures 78 long and 24 inches wide. There are no roller ends, but I can easily supply them if the winning bidder so desires. Considering its some 235 years of life the painting is in remarkably good condition, with no serious damage at all. It is quite clear that this painting was carefully kept by its successive owners. There are a few small wrinkles but, as my 99-year-old mother said of hers, "They are the bona fides of a long life well lived."
The mounting does show its age. It is made almost entirely of an old silk with a dark khaki ground and a thoughtfully chosen large bamboo motif in darker threads. The whole scroll is edged with half-inch strips of a cream colored silk.
The simplicity of the mounting focuses the attention on the masterful painting.
Altogether, this is a most handsome scroll and the photos give a very good idea of its power and beauty with its painting on paper by the important and influential artist, Kishi Ganku, from around 1780 in the Edo Period.
If you should have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.
And thanks for looking.
The painting on this scroll is around 234 or so years old and has passed through many difficult times including two World Wars, the Second of which was disastrous for its native country. For an unframed work on such a delicate support as paper, it is remarkable that it has survived at all, let alone in such good condition. But this scroll and similar works of art are not in absolutely perfect condition and they frequently show evidence of their long life. I endeavor to point out if and where there may be any damage, but the photographs tell the whole story. Please examine them carefully. If you are looking for something with absolutely no signs of age, I am afraid you will have to look elsewhere. In short, these beautiful scrolls were not born yesterday.
I indicate the artist's name based on a signature and/or seal and also the style, but occasionally a scroll may be a copy of a work by a famous painter. In the present case, I am sure that the painting is by Kishi Ganku.
Due to limitations of photography and the inevitable differences in monitor settings, the color of the pictures on your monitor may be slightly different from the scroll itself, but I did my best to capture it as it is. And, at least on my monitor, the color is a very good match.
