Japan, 19^th century. Ink, watercolor, and gouache on silk. Mounted as a hanging scroll, on a silk brocade coated paper frame with wooden handles. Finely painted depicting a peaceful, autumnal scene of two monkeys hanging from the vine-clad branches of a pine tree, peering down towards a wasps' nest, guarded by other wasps, two bats hovering around a stag and a deer grazing beside a stream, abundant reishi fungi, grasses, and bamboo growing from behind rocks in the foreground.

Inscriptions: Signed, ‘Zeshin utsusu, 是真寫 (‘painted by Zeshin’), and sealed with a pot seal, ‘Zeshin’ 是真, and a square seal, ‘Koma’ 古満.

Condition: Excellent condition with minor wear, very light creasing, and microscopic staining. The silk brocade shows minor wear and soiling.

Dimensions: Image size 123.7 x 55 cm, Size incl. mounting 214.5 x 70 cm

With a fitted tomobako storage box. (2)

The combination of a bat (fuku), stag (roku), and pine (ju) are not only symbolic motifs for prosperity and longevity but also make up the reading for Fukurokuju, the god of longevity, whose image is intentionally omitted from this painting.

Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891) was a Japanese painter and lacquer artist of the late Edo period and early Meiji era. He studied under the great artists of the Kyoto school, including Maruyama Okyo, Okamoto Toyohiko, and Goshin. Though he would later be known primarily for his work with lacquers, Zeshin excelled at traditional ink painting, and produced many works of traditional subjects such as tigers and waterfalls. He inherited the Koma School workshop after his old teacher, Koma Kansai, died in 1835. It was here that he experimented with the technical aspects of lacquer. Along with Nakayama Komin and Shirayama Shosai, he is considered one of the three great late lacquerers of Japan.

Shibata Zeshin's studio was situated on the bank of a river, providing him with ample opportunity to observe nature, and the creatures that inhabited the natural world. Like many painters of the 19th century, he was eclectic in his sources and would have been exposed to traditional styles. However, Zeshin's skill level was such that he could fluidly mix techniques, ideas, and stylistic options, thus painting part of a composition in one manner and including elements of another to add a style and variety unheard of at the time.