Lot 22
  • 22

Cho Enko Active 19th Century

Estimate
5,000 - 7,000 USD
bidding is closed

Description

  • Cho Enko
  • Scholars in a Blue and Green Landscape
  • hanging scroll, ink and color on silk
depicting the arrival of a scholar and his acolyte at the studio of a friend, who pours over books in a rural retreat in the shadow of tall pines, while outside a cowherd and fishermen are at work, all within an extensive mist-shrouded mountainous landscape dotted with flowering trees, with an inscription which may be translated:



The mountains are peaceful; all things as they were in antiquity.  The days are long as they were in my youth.  Written out in the summer of the year 1846 in the Bunka era, [signed] Ranba Cho Enko, bearing three seals: Ranba, two undeciphered, with a fitted Japanese wood box (2)

Exhibited

Japanese Paintings from the Henricksen Collection, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University; Tyler Art Gallery, State University of New York, Oswego, 20th August 2005 - 5th March 2006, cat. no. 9, illustrated.

Condition

silk slightly toned, a few scattered flyspots and minor stains, slight creasing, otherwise good condition
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

The present work is an attractive example in the manner of Chinese Song and Yuan dynasty paintings in the 'Blue and Green' style.  Such a style evokes a feeling of an idyllic past, further emphasized in the present work by the presence of flowering trees, alluding to the Chinese story of the 'Peach-Blossom Spring', where a fisherman discovers an earthly paradise removed from the world of the everyday.  It is interesting to compare the present work with that of Su Yi, lot 3 in the present sale.