Posted by Arnold (192.231.106.2) on March 24, 2004 at 17:52:23:
In Reply to: Re: Japanese Drawing posted by Dan on March 24, 2004 at 04:36:15:
Hi Dan,
I enjoyed talking with you and your young daughter! I learned a lot and very much appreciated the time you took. It is a rare treat for this collector to be able to speak with an expert. The Artelino website looks very informative.
Hillier gave a more general interpretation of the "Three Sake Drinkers" which didn't have very much meaning for me so I'm delighted to get your version. I’d guess that the interplay between the poetry and figures creates a hilarious composition. The seller identified the three beijin (beautiful women) in the drawing as an Oiran (top ranking courtesan, the contemporary beauty of the Yoshiwara) (left), Benten (the beauty of the heavens, Goddess of poetry and performing arts (center) and Ono no komachi (Heian period poetess and author of the first novel, The Tales of Genji)(left). It looks like Ono is about to take a taste.
I just took delivery of the drawing and should correct one assertion. The red color is from added lines and fill ins - not paint that seeped through from overlaid silk. The drawing is in black and red ink on very thin, tissue-like paper. The paper is lightly toned and appears hand made i.e. one can see rib marks. The drawing is highly detailed and contains many notes even within the figures, presumably for color, that are hard to make out in the posted version. I'll be sending you a copy for a start and try to figure out how to post an enlarged version of portions of the drawing on this site for those who might be interested.
Your discovery of a date is very exciting! Ota Nampo called himself Shokusanjin from 1794-1823. I came more fully to realize Nampo’s importance on reading Donald Jenkins "Floating World Revisited" which reports on a museum exhibition that highlights Ota Nampo and Santo Kyoden's roles in precipitating the Ukiyoe "Golden Age" (roughly 1780-1800). It's a very interesting catalogue and opened my eyes a bit more to this most interesting of times. Jenkins also details Nampo's role in his essay in Clark and Ueda's 'The Actor's Image".
A few little discoveries that may be relevant to the drawing.
1. Lane in "Images from the Floating World" notes that Eisui was active from 1790-1823 so the poem date is consistent with an Eisui drawing. If the drawing was by Eisui, it would suggest a long association by this group (Eishi-Eisui-Nampo) of artists.
2. Jenkins (FWR, p 192) notes that Nampo and Eishi (1756-1829) knew each other from the early 1800's and were fast friends.
3. Tantalizingly, Jenkins (FWR, p 192) writes "entries in Nampo's diaries indicate that he wrote inscriptions on other paintings that have been lost". Perhaps, Nampo mentions this particular drawing.
Best regards,
Arnold