Lot 64: Sengai Gibon (1750-1837) Zen Mountain Fuji Edo period (1615-1868), c. 1800

SENGAI GIBON (1750-1837)
Zen Mountain Fuji
Edo period (1615-1868), c. 1800
Hanging scroll, ink on hemp; depicting Mount
Fuji and sailing boats, inscribed with a haiku
poem Amatsuchi no hazama ni hitotsu yuki no
yama (In the gap between heaven and earth
there is only one snowy peak), signed gai with
seal Sengai
With wood tomobako 29 7/8 x 14 5/8in (75.7 x 37.2cm)

Provenance
John Stevens Collection
The phrase yuki no yama (snowy peak) in the
inscription here denotes Mount Fuji whose
name, written with different characters, can
mean “non-duality,” in other words the Zen
teaching that heaven and earth, like individual
nature and Buddha nature, are not two
separate things but a unity. This fine painting
by Sengai is, very unusually, painted on
hemp. Beautifully mounted, it is among his
finest pieces.