Lot 40: AUBERGINES

Otagaki Rengetsu (1791-1875) and Tomioka Tessai (1836-1924) Aubergines Hanging scroll, ink on paper, two aubergines painted by Tessai and with calligraphy on the same theme by Rengetsu, signed Rengetsu nanaju-go sai [Rengetsu at the age of 75], wood box with inscriptions Rengetsu Tessai gassaku nasu gasan yoko-mono [aubergine painting and poem by Rengetsu and Tessai], Tomioka ke kyuzo [old collection of the Tomioka family] with paper labels on the reverse of the cover inscribed Ren Tetsu gassaku [collaboration of Rengetsu and Tessai] and Tomioka ke zo no uchi hoshi Tessai jikihitsu hozon suru [paper wrapping with inscription by Tessai from the Tomioka family] 30.5 x 43.7cm. (excluding mount)

30.5 x 43.7cm.

The verse reads: Yono naka ni mi no nari idete omohu koto Nasu ha medetaki tameshi nari keri Ota Rengetsu, a Buddhist nun from Kyoto, is known as one of the great poets of the 19th century, as well as a calligrapher, painter and potter. In 1855, she became a mentor to the young Tomioka Tessai, a literati painter, and it is known that she had significant impact on Tessai for the rest of his life. When she was offered calligraphy commissions as an accomplished poet, Rengetsu sometimes let Tessai paint the accompanying images to try to help establish his career. This work represents such a collaboration as well as Rengetsu’s warm-hearted encouragement to Tessai. It is said that Tessai admired and respected Rengetsu to such an extent that he kept her works including those they collaborated upon, until his death. According to the inscription on the box label, this work could have been one of such works kept in the Tomioka family. For a similar example by Rengetsu in the collection of Jinko-in temple, see Sho to bokuga no graph shi, vol.44, September 1983, p.31. For another work by Rengetsu with aubergines, see Okadane Taro, Tessai geijutsu no michibikite Rengetsu [Rengetsu who guided Tessai’s art], in Sho to bokuga no graph shi, vol.44, September 1983, p. 58.