Nanga
Landscape with pavillonSigned: Baigai
Seals: Baigai Totoki Shi
Technique: sumi on paper 58,8 x 23,8
Date: 1800 late spring
Mounting: bronze silk damask 124 x 35,5
Box: authorized by Taigadô Teiryô (Taigadô VI) (1839-1910)
Condition: very good
The inscription reads: Painted with the technique of the cold ink of a diversity of painters of the mountains of Ni Zan. (Ni Zan is a famous painter from the Yuan era)
Baigai was born in Osaka where he received a first class education. The former Ôbaku monk Chô Tôsai (1712-1786) introduced Baigai to the literati (bunjin) world. Without money he went to Kyoto where he worked in the pleasure quarters of Gion as an entertainer and a comic. On his way to Edo he met with Masuyama Sessai (1754-1819) an enthusiastic patron of the bunjin movement who, in 1783, gave Baigai the post of Confucian scholar in his Edo residence. With Haruki Nanko (1759-1839) Baigai travelled to Nagasaki in 1790 where they studied the Chinese classics, calligraphy and painting. Baigai resigned from his Edo job and went back to Osaka. He started a Confucian academy and joined the group around Kimura Kenkadô (1736-1802).
Reference:
Roberts p. 7
Araki p. 1748
Rosenfield B.98
Adams & Berry p. 52
Addiss '75 p. 38
Price: ON REQUEST
