Back to the collection

[Spring Trout] Hanging Scroll by Ōtagaki Rengetsu (1791-1875)

Artist:

Ōtagaki Rengetsu (1791-1875)

Era:

Late Edo

Price:

SOLD

Inquire:

Contact gallery

Similar artwork:

Looking for something similar?

The poem accompanying the artwork on this antique scroll reads: Fishing little trout—Precious drops of dew glisten—Flowing with the blossoms—The mountains and rivers of spring! (Rengetsu, age 78). A rather later and mature work by Rengetsu, this piece was created right as Edo ended and Meiji began, marking a major turning point in Japanese history and culture.

Ōtagaki Rengetsu (1791-1875) was born into a Samurai family but soon after adopted by the Ōtagaki family, from the age of seven to sixteen she was a lady-in-waiting at Kameoka castle where she was trained in the arts and courtly graces. Due to her rumored great beauty, she soon married but after the death of her husband in 1823, she joined the temple Chion-in and became a nun, taking Rengetsu (Lotus Moon) as her Buddhist name. Rengetsu is widely regarded as one of the greatest waka poets of the 19th century. A skilled Shijo School painter, she was also an accomplished calligrapher and potter. She admired and studied under a number of great poets including Ozawa Roan and Ueda Akinari, and later in life became a close friend and mentor to Tomioka Tessai—who would eventually become a great artist in his own right.

Color and sumi on paper, this hanging scroll is 13.5 inches wide (34cm) and stands 78 inches tall (198cm), with the artwork on the scroll being 12 inches wide (31cm) and 50 inches tall (126cm). In exceptionally good antique condition, it comes with a collector box fashioned by Ueda Kōho (1869-1944), a prominent Chinese landscape painter and tea person from Osaka. Inside the box there is a receipt for its purchase from a shop in Hiroshima in 1987 for the price of ¥420,000 along with a photocopied article about Rengetsu and a slip of paper with the poem from the scroll.

***International shipping and insurance is included in the price

Contact the gallery