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Nagazawa Rosetsu (1754-1799) & Minagawa Kien (1734-1807)
Maruyama
Sarumawashi- Monkey trainer
Signed: Rosetsu, Kyôsai
Seals: Gyô, Minagawa Gen in & Kien (tp)
Technique: sumi on paper 122 x 28
Mounting: bronze azure damask 179,5 x 38
Box: inscribed
Condition: very good

The inscription reads: 朝三暮四以求斯妙, Chôsan boshi motte kono myô o motomeru.
Three in the morning and four in the evening to have quiet restored (having the monkey at ease sitting on the shoulder of the trainer.)
blog.mandarinchineseschool.com/2013/05/chinese-idiom-stories-in-pinyin-zhao-san-mu-si.html

Rosetsu and Kien were close friends.

Little is known about Rosetsu’s life and most of it is uncertain because he didn’t become old enough to have other people confirm any of the (juicy) stories. Rosetsu was an important painter, an eccentric with a highly individual style, which in some cases turned completely uninhibited at the end of his life.

Originally he was a scion from the Maruyama School. He was expelled from Õkyo's school due to insubordination to his teacher. Rosetsu started his own studio in 1781, after which Õkyo still supported him and recommended him to possible patrons. On a number of commissions the two still collaborated. Rosetsu also studied Zenga under Dokushû Reitai (17..-1798), a pupil of Hakuin.

Reference:
Nihon no Bijitsu 8-219
Robert Moes 1973
Shiba 2000
Roberts p. 131
Araki p. 2710 ff.
Kyoto '98: # 1-17, 18
Rosenfield '99 B.60 (# 97-99)

Kien was born in Kyoto. He started his Confucian studies at the age of five and was teaching by the time he was twenty-five. He entered the service of the Matsudaira family of the domain of Kameyama in Tanba province. In the 1780s he was invited by the domain of Zeze in Ômi province to set up an education system. In 1805 he established a successful Confucian school in Kyoto, which attracted more than 3000 students, but the school went into a rapid decline after his death two years later.
Kien studied first painting with Mochizuki Gyokusen (1692-1755) and later with Maruyama Ôkyo (1733-95), Gan Ku (1749-1838) and Go Shun (1752-1811). From 1783 onwards, in spring and autumn, he organized the Shin Shoga Tenkan, the Exhibition of New Calligraphies and Paintings at the Sôrin-ji in Kyoto. Here he presented the work of many of his friends and colleagues.

Reference:
Roberts p. 78
Araki p. 1892 ff.
Rosenfield B.54
Beerens p. 105 ff.
Hillier p. 60

Price:
SOLD