Lot 382: SENGAI GIBON (1750-1837) Edo period (1615-1868),

SENGAI GIBON (1750-1837) Edo period (1615-1868), late 18th century/early 19th century Kakejiku (vertical hanging scroll), ink on paper, depicting a typical portrayal of the deified Sugawara no Michizane as a bearded tenjin going abroad to China, standing in Chinese robes wearing a stylised scholar’s cap and holding a branch of flowering plum, with a poem above inscribed Kochi fukeba / Morokoshi mademo / nioiken / ume no aruji no / sode no hitoeda (The fragrance of a plum branch in the sleeve of my lord reaches even to China when the spring wind blows), signed with seal Sengai; with wood storage box titled Sengai Osho Toto Tenjin no zu (Picture of a Tenjin going to China by monk Sengai) and a piece of paper with an inscription. 93.5cm x 29.2cm (36¾in x 11½in). (3).

The theme presented here, Toto Tenjin (Tenjin’s Crossing to China) alludes to the legend of the exiled Heian-period statesman Sugawara Michizane (845-903) travelling to China. The plum was supposedly Michizane’s favourite flower and he is often represented with a spray of blossoming prunus. This image was a popular theme among Zen painters. For another very similar painting by the artist, see the exhibition catalogue, Sengai: Masterpieces of Zen Paintings from the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, Idemitsu Museum of Arts, 2007, p.70, pl.45.