41. HOKKEI (1780-1850). The Salt Dragon. (Sold)
TOTOYA HOKKEI (1780-1850)
A Chinese boy feeds a potion of salt to a small dragon emerging
from a glass vase placed in a large metal brazier. Legend tells that
captive dragons shed salt through their skin scales and therefore
need to be fed. Behind the boy there is the large trunk of an old tree.
On his right, a glass urn contains a miniature of the mythical Mount
Hōrai. The print’s title is in the cartouche in the top right corner in
the shape of a Chinese ink stick while the poem is contained in a box
reminiscent of the underwater palace of the Dragon King of the Sea.
Woodblock colour print with metallic pigments details
Shikishiban surimono, 20,5x18 cm.
Signed: Hokkei, artist’s seal Aoigaoka
Poem by Ganjōtei Shirataka
Title: The Salt Dragon (Enryū zu)
Privately published
1832, year of the dragon
The impression in Chester Beatty Library, no. J 2132, is illustrated and
the poem translated in Keyes. The Art of Surimono, no. 141.
Other impressions are in the New York Public Library no. 113752 and
Museum of Fine Arts Boston, no. 113752.
For a comparison with a surimono of the same subject, designed in
1806 by Kubo Shunman in a rather archaistic style, see Forrer.
Surimono in the Rijksmuseum, no. 71.
Illustrated in our catalogue Surimono. Hokusai-Shinsai-Hokkei-Gakutei,
September 2024, no. 41.
Fine impression, colour and condition
Status: Sold
Item: D 351
A Chinese boy feeds a potion of salt to a small dragon emerging
from a glass vase placed in a large metal brazier. Legend tells that
captive dragons shed salt through their skin scales and therefore
need to be fed. Behind the boy there is the large trunk of an old tree.
On his right, a glass urn contains a miniature of the mythical Mount
Hōrai. The print’s title is in the cartouche in the top right corner in
the shape of a Chinese ink stick while the poem is contained in a box
reminiscent of the underwater palace of the Dragon King of the Sea.
Woodblock colour print with metallic pigments details
Shikishiban surimono, 20,5x18 cm.
Signed: Hokkei, artist’s seal Aoigaoka
Poem by Ganjōtei Shirataka
Title: The Salt Dragon (Enryū zu)
Privately published
1832, year of the dragon
The impression in Chester Beatty Library, no. J 2132, is illustrated and
the poem translated in Keyes. The Art of Surimono, no. 141.
Other impressions are in the New York Public Library no. 113752 and
Museum of Fine Arts Boston, no. 113752.
For a comparison with a surimono of the same subject, designed in
1806 by Kubo Shunman in a rather archaistic style, see Forrer.
Surimono in the Rijksmuseum, no. 71.
Illustrated in our catalogue Surimono. Hokusai-Shinsai-Hokkei-Gakutei,
September 2024, no. 41.
Fine impression, colour and condition
Status: Sold
Item: D 351