Lot 3283: Ike Taiga (1723-1776)

Hanging scroll, ink on paper; featuring a single, wide stalk of bamboo, with a four character verse inscribed as if the characters dance from the leaves, at left; signed Gyokkai suiboku with seals Mumei no in and ju ko doku go; together with a wooden tomobako bearing an authentication by Takekura Sojin, dated Showa 55.1 (1980)
53 1/4 x 20 5/8in (135.3 x 52.4cm)

The inscription, hanpo ryofu, has been translated by Sadako Ohki as "Half a plot of fresh breeze." The phrase is derived from an original poem by Taiga, inscribed on his 1754 painting Bamboo and Rock. The poem as a whole reflects Taiga's reverence for the bamboo art of Yuan dynasty literati painter Ni Zan (1301-1374). The four-character phrase appears elsewhere in Taiga's work and is, according to Ohki, "an important embodiment of Taiga's ideal of the leisurely and carefree scholar's life." For a translation of the poem and discussion of its meaning in the context of Taiga's work, see Felice Fischer, Ike Taiga and Tokuyama Gyokuran: Japanese Masters of the Brush (Philadelphia, 2007), 398. The same four-character phrase is inscribed on a fan listed in the catalogue as number 49 (p. 175).

Bamboo was a favorite literati theme, noted for its resiliency in the face of wind and cold. According to the signature, Gyokkai suiboku, this painting was executed while Taiga was inebriated, and indeed the inscription and signature seem loose, relaxed, even playful. By contrast, the bamboo stalk, painted in the 'flying white' (hihaku) technique, is a marvel of economy and equipoise -- showing that even while drunk, the artist maintained control of his brush.