Lot 2147: IKE NO TAIGA (1723-1776) Scholars in a mountain landscape

Scholars in a mountain landscape
Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper; signed Kasho Mumei and sealed Ike mumei in, Sangaku dosha and Zenshin somagata kyuso; with an inscribed poem by Kotei (Murase Kotei, 1746-1818), signed Kotei and sealed Gen shiki and Go Kotei
52 1/2 x 21 5/8in (113.4 x 54.9cm)

Provenance: Motoyama Chikuso
Takabayashi Yasutora

Published: "Takabashi korekushon: Edoki no nanga, bunjinga." Bokubi 192.8 (1969): no. 6, 11.

With a copy of a letter from the Monbusho (Ministry of Education) requesting the submission of this painting for consideration as Juyo bijutsuhin (Important Art Object), dated 1941.26.10.


Ike no Taiga was a Kyoto painter and calligrapher. He began his professional career when he was a teenager working in a fan shop copying designs from Chinese painting manuals that had come to Japan through Nagasaki. Together with Yosa Buson (1716-1784), Taiga developed and popularized a Chinese-inspired Literati painting style infused with a distinct Japanese taste. They took as their inspiration Chinese Literati painting from the Southern Sung Dynasty (1127-1279), with its emphasis on the scholar recluse longing to escape the oppressive civil society.

In this painting, Taiga may be looking at Northern Sung landscape paintings such as the iconic Early Spring by Guo Xi (1020-1090). Early Spring and paintings from that genre, emphasize the grandiosity of nature and our position within it. The mountain towers and twists and man gets lost inside it. While Taiga's painting follows this tradition, he softens the impact through the use of a muted color palette and repetitive "rope" strokes in his rendering of the mountain. His insertion of a traveler crossing a bridge in the foreground, as opposed to the middle or background, places slightly more emphasis on the human element, creating a certain degree of intimacy with the viewer.

There is a playful interplay between the poem inscribed by Murase Kotei and the imagery in the painting:

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koujou no seizan sanjou no yama
rankou hare ni eizu suiun no ma
suibi atakamo soubou no zai suru ari
nani wo motte ka hannnichi no kan yori hoka wo en to su


By the river, the mountains are blue and continuous
The mist reflects the sunshine, the water reflects the clouds
Greenish blue haze suits the monk's hut
What could be worth more than half a day of quiet time?


The poem refers to the painting and articulates the Literati desire to retreat into the mountains.

Taiga's wife, Ike no Gyokuran (1728-1784), was also a successful painter. They often collaborated and were known to reproduce each others compositions. Gyokuran painted at least two nearly identical paintings to this example. See
Felice Fischer, Ike Taiga and Tokuyama Gyokuran: Japanese Masters of the Brush (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2007), nos. 150 & 151, 280-283.

Yasutora Takabayashi (1874-1946) was born in Shizuoka prefecture. He was a banker by profession. He befriended prominent Nanga and Bunjinga dealers such as Otani Yoshitaro, who guided his eye and assisted in the selection of paintings for his collection. According to Nishimura Nangaku, a prominent scholar and dealer of Bunjinga, there were no forgeries in Takabayashi's collection. Included with this painting is a lengthy letter written from Nanagaku to Takabayashi explaining that he found this painting in the collection of Motoyama Chikuso and, convinced of its importance, urged Takabayashi to acquire it. The discussion mentions a figure of 6000. It is difficult to be certain whether this refers to yen or gold pieces, but either denomination represents a great figure.

There is an additional letter from Motoyama Chikuso to Takabayashi concluding the transaction.