A JAPANESE SCROLL PAINTING BY KAMO SUETAKA (1752-1841)

A JAPANESE SCROLL PAINTING BY KAMO SUETAKA (1752-1841), KAKEMONO

EDO 1603-1868

In ink on paper and depicting Mount Fuji, its distinctive triangular shape cleverly suggested by a few strokes of the artist's brush, with a waka poem to the side reading Azumaji no ikikaigotono, Fujinone wa mishimenimonizu odorokare ke (Passing Mount Fuji in Azumaji in both direction, even if seen many times before, Mount Fuji always looks different. This amazes me), and Donoyoni Takoyumeto Sangokuni Chigiritenonai Yamafujinone (No matter the height of a mountain, in all countries, there is none other to get married to than Mount Fuji), and signed Suetaka Gisaku (by Suetaka and made for fun), 29cm x 34cm.

Provenance: a Spanish private collection, Madrid, purchased from Bachmann Eckenstein Art & Antiques, Basel, 20th June 2003. A copy of the original invoice is available.

Kamo Suetaka was a Shinto priest at the Kamo Shrine in Kyoto. An academic and intellectual, he was also renowned as a talented poet, painter and calligrapher.