Imai Shoun | Painted mounting
Imai Shoun, an artist from Nagoya, decorated the mounting of this scoll with a gigantic pine tree and he did it with "considerable talent" as Laurence Roberts probalby would have put it in this Dictionary of Japanese Artists. The pine tree on the mounting frames the Chinese style poem brushed by Kakyo Nobuo. All we know about Nobuo is this. He was seventy-seven when he did this piece of calligraphy, seventy-seven being a auspicious age...
“Green pines spread and covered with winter. Icy clouds freeze the air. The pillars rise. Thus they stand wise and admit the worries to come. As they grow, cranes live on the branches. And the young dragon on the branch has not yet become a dragon. The harp’s sound cleanses the mind. The ears are charmed and dust is washed away.” [signed “Old man of 77 years” – Kyoan.
Imai Shoun and
Kakyo Nobuo
Ink on paper
134.6 x 31.8 cm (53 x 12 ½ in.)
Mounting 195 x 48.5 cm (76 ¾ x 19 in.)
Some foxing but good over all condition
Wooden box dated Spring 1941
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