Suhara Yashiroemon

Collection of drawings by So Shiseki. The date 1765 is the only date found in the collection, but it is not impossible that the work is a 19th-century reprint, as Japan had a very different concept from ours concerning authenticity and originality, including ancient temples that were rebuilt identically once they became dilapidated. The Waseda Library, the most important in Japan, possesses a copy with the same characteristics. However, bookmaking techniques in Japan were not different in the 18th and 19th centuries; there was no break, and this view is Western. 31 prints including 12 double-page.
Accordion volume, bound with stitching, on mulberry paper. Chocolate honeycomb cover. Title label on upper board. Borders rubbed, but handsome copy, fresh.
So Shiseki is a painter of the Nagasaki and Nampin schools; he followed the teaching of the Chinese painter So Shigan, whose name he adopted. He is a painter of flowers, birds and animals, his style uses calligraphy techniques with broad or fine strokes and ink washes.