Lot 333: So Shiseki (1712-1786) Mid/late 18th century

Mid/late 18th century
A pair of kakejiku in ink, colour and gold on silk, one scroll painted with a long-tailed white bird looking down at another brown bird looking up, both perched on pomegranate trees with bamboo leaves behind; the other with a pair of green birds perched on pine trees with branches of rose behind, both signed So Shiseki sha with three seals So Shiseki in and Katei and Issho konyu meizan yu; with wood storage box, the inside of the lid with a label indicating the scrolls as originating from the Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum (closed in 2002).
110cm x 47.5cm (43¼in x 18¾in). (3).

??? ???? ?? ???? 18????/??

Born in Edo, So Shiseki was a Nagasaki painter and printmaker. A pupil of the Nagasaki arists Kumashiro Yuhi and So Shigan, he brought the Nagasaki style to Edo, where he quickly gained a great reputation, and counted Shiba Kokan and Sakai Hoitsu, So Shizan and his son among his pupils. Illustrated books after his designs (for example, the So Shiseki Gafu, published in 1765) were among the earliest printed from multiple-colour blocks. He produced prints in the Chinese literati style. His kachoga, for which he is best known, are in the full-coloured style of Shen nan-P'in.

For other examples of kakejiku by the artist depicting almost identical birds (jyutaicho), as offered here, see Itabashi Ward Museum of Art, So Shiseki to sono jidai, Exhibition Catalogue, Tokyo, 1986, p.20, pl.9. For other examples of the birds depicted on the right scroll, see ibid., p.28, pl.22.