Lot 6068: Sakai Doitsu (1845-1913) Meiji period, late 19th century

Meiji period, late 19th century
Hanging scroll, ink, colors, and gold on silk; depicting irises beside a stylized curving stream; signed Uka Doitsu hitsu and sealed In'nen
42 3/8 x 18 7/8in (107.6 x 47.9cm)

Sakai Doitsu continued the Rimpa tradition into the early 20th century. The Rimpa painters -- artists spanning three centuries -- followed stylistic and iconographic formulas laid down by Tawaraya Sotatsu in the second quarter of the 17th century. Their work typically incorporates abstract, asymmetrical designs, curving outlines, and large blocks of color, and employs experimental techniques such as tarashikomi (pooling of ink). Doitsu's father, Yamamoto Sodo, was a pupil of the Rimpa master Sakai Hoitsu (1761-1821).

Irises have a special resonance within the Rimpa school. The most famous example is Ogata Korin's masterpiece Irises, a pair of six-panel screens housed in the Nezu Museum, Tokyo. The theme of irises refers to an episode in the tenth-century literary compilation The Tales of Ise, where a young courtier encounters an eight-fold bridge over a marsh filled with irises and is inspired to compose a poem.