Lot 20: Antiquity, 1675

Etsuzan Doshu (1629-1709) Antiquity, 1675 Signed Obaku Etsuzan sho, sealed Rinzai shoshu, Etsuzan and Doshu no in, dated 1675, mid-autumn Hanging scroll; ink on paper 10 3/8 x 23 1/8in. (26.4 x 58.8cm.)

26.4 x 58.8cm.

John M. Rosenfield with Fumiko E. Cranston, Extraordinary Persons: Works by Eccentric, Nonconformist Japanese Artists of the Early Modern Era (1580-1868) in the Collection of Kimiko and John Powers, Vol. 1 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Art Museums, 1999), pp. 226-27, no. 56.

Etsuzan Doshu (Chinese: Yueshan Daozong) was the seventh abbot of Manpukuji, a temple of the Chinese Obaku sect of Zen Buddhism near Kyoto. Born in China, he moved to Japan and settled at Manpukuji. Etsuzan was regarded as one of the finest of the Obaku calligraphers and respected as Sho no Etsuzan (Etsuzan of calligraphy). The poem starts with the dramatically large character ko (old or ancient) and continues with smaller characters, translated as follows: An ancient ode recited amid mountains’ splendor; A stringless lute enveloped in the brilliance of the moon. Translation by Fumiko E. Cranston from Extraordinary Persons, Vol. 1 (1999), p. 226. The expression “stringless lute” is the suggestive oxymoron often used by Zen monks. According to John Rosenfield, the splendor of the mountains and the brilliance of the moon imply the sublime state of Buddhist enlightenment.