Japan, 18^th century. Ink on paper. Mounted as hanging scrolls, on paper, with wooden handles. The set of five paintings depicts finely detailed birds of prey perched high in the treetops, looking down over varying landscapes. (5)

Inscriptions: Three paintings bear the seals ‘Joki’ 如鬼 and ‘Jasokuken Shohaku’ 蛇足軒蕭白. Two paintings are sealed ‘Joki’ 如鬼 and ‘Shohaku’ 蕭白.

Provenance: From the collection of Felix Tikotin, and thence by descent within the family. Felix Tikotin (1893-1986) was an architect, art collector, and founder of the first Museum of Japanese Art in the Middle East. Born in Glogau, Germany, to a Jewish family, his ancestors had returned with Napoleon from Russia from a town named Tykocin. He grew up in Dresden and after World War I, he traveled to Japan and immediately fell in love with the culture. In April 1927, he opened his first own gallery in Berlin. The entire family survived the Holocaust, and in the 1950s Tikotin slowly resumed his activities as a dealer in Japanese art. He became, once again, very successful and prominent, holding exhibitions all over Europe and the United States. When he first visited Israel in 1956, he decided that the major part of his collection belonged in that country. In 1960, the Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art was opened in Haifa.
Condition: Good condition with minor wear, minuscule soling, small creases, and few old repairs with touch ups. The paper mountings are in similar condition with minor creasing and soiling.

Dimensions: Image size ca. 133.5 x 56 cm (each), Size incl. mounting ca. 198 x 67 (each)

Soga Shohaku, (1730-1781), original name Miura Sakonjiro, was a Japanese painter of the mid-Edo period who tried to revive the brush-style drawing of the great masters of the Muromachi period. As a young man, Shohaku studied painting under the guidance of Takada Keiho of the Kano school in Kyoto, but his disillusionment with contemporary art led him to look to the past for inspiration. He came to greatly admire the works of the Muromachi painter, Soga Jasoku, and began calling himself Jasoku ken, or Jasoku jussei (‘the tenth’). He excelled in ink monochrome portraits, which he made with powerful brushwork using broad strokes, which is exemplified in these five panels. Many of his paintings today are housed in museums such as the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Kimbell Art Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

Museum comparison:
Compare a closely related painting by Soga Shohaku, depicting a pair of falcons amongst blossoming branches, signed with an identical seal, in The Indianapolis Museum of Art, accession no. 2000.53.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 22 April 2015, lot 45
Price: USD 81,250 or approx. EUR 98,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: Soga Shohaku (1730-1781), Cranes with turtle and rising sun
Expert remark: Compare the related motif. Note this set consists of only two hanging scrolls. Note the similar size (each 128.6 x 56.8 cm).