Maruyama
Chin playerSigned: Minagawa Gen shashin, Rosetsu
Seals: Hakkyô, Minagawa Gen in, Inkyo Fu
Technique: sumi on paper 125,2 x 54,3
Mounting: ocre silk 189 x 63,2
Condition: aged: old restored damage and lightly soiled at the top, otherwise good
Kien was the eldest son of Migawa Shuntô, a well-known scholar of Chinese literature and philosophy. He educated his two sons to become good Confucians and he even provided them with private teachers. Already at a young age both boys were well taught. Kien’s brother Nariakira (1738-79) became an outstanding student of Japanese national history. And Kien himself soon became better known as a Confucian scholar than his father. At the age of twenty-five Kien started to teach and about a year later, around 1760, he was in 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.
Kien studied painting with Mochizuki Gyokusen (1692-1755) first 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 public semi-annual Exhibition of New Calligraphies and Paintings at the Sôrin-ji in Kyoto. Here he presented the works of many of his
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)
Price: SOLD
