Three scrolls, containing many splendid & richly colored paintings of birds & their parts, on individual sheets of paper joined together to form scrolls, entitled on outside of first scroll “Isen’in kari sagi seisha” 雁鷺生写 [“Faithful Copies of Isen’in’s Geese & Herons”]

Three scrolls (420 x 3470 mm.; 430 x 3710 mm.; 270 x 3700 mm.). [Japan]: early Meiji.


Isen’in (1775-1828), painter, was the son and pupil of Kanō Yosen’in Korenobu, whom he succeeded as seventh-generation head of the Kobikicho branch of the Edo Kanō school, founded by Kanō Naonobu (1607-50). As such he would have had privileged access to study antique Chinese and Japanese paintings in the collections of the shogunate and feudal lords. He painted landscapes and natural history subjects.


These three scrolls contain 19 finely rendered large images of geese, ducks, herons, and pigeons, all in fine color, along with numerous (truncated) detailed and well-colored studies of wings, legs, and beaks of individual species.


At the end of the second scroll, we find the inscription 松斎 寫, “Copied by Shōsai.” This was the pen name of Iijima Kagaku 飯島華岳. His father, Iijima Ungaku 飯島雲岳, was a disciple of Kanō Isen’in Naganobu.


In fine condition. (Inventory #: 10962)