print
- Museum number
- 1987,0316,0.578
- Title
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Object: Yonen jidai no Sesshu (The Child Sesshu)
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Series: Ichimoku-shu (First Thursday Collection, Vol 4)
- Description
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Colour woodblock print. Young Buddhist monk tied to pillar, crying, next to image of rat (story of young Sesshu). Unnumbered. Inscribed and sealed.
- Production date
- 1948
- Dimensions
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Height: 34.60 centimetres
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Width: 27.60 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- Smith 2002
The pigments are very thick, and some have soaked through to the back of the paper; they appear to be a partial reversion to the oil-based pigments the artist preferred earlier in his career (Merritt, Helen, 'Modern Japanese Prints: The Early Years', Honolulu, 1990, p. 229). The title is in a form of seal-script suitable for the subject matter. The story here is a legend told of the great Japanese ink-painter Sesshu Toyo (1420-1506). As a Zen acolyte in Hofuku-ji Temple he was tied to a post of the temple by his instructor, who was angry that he cared only about painting and not his other studies. On returning later, the instructor found what he thought was a lifeless rat at Sesshu's feet, which it turned out he had painted with his tears, using his toe (The story appears as early as 1693, in Kano Eino, 'Honcho gashi').2 The reasons for the choice of such a resonant subject for this portfolio is a matter for speculation, but it may well be a reference to the continuing occupation of Japan.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
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Exhibited:
2002, 4 Sep-1 Dec, BM Japanese Galleries, 'Japanese Prints during the Allied Occupation 1945-1952'
- Acquisition date
- 1987
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 1987,0316,0.578