Teisai Hokuba (1770-1844)


Edo period (1615-1868), circa 1840Kakejiku (vertical hanging scroll), ink and colours on silk in silk mounts, depicting two women from the village of Ohara outside Kyoto, one of them carrying the customary bundle of firewood on her head, the other with a box of kinuta (pestles for fulling textiles), also on her head, the two women followed by a horse laden with firewood and a flowering branch of cherry; signed Nanaju-o Teisai hitsu (Brushed by Teisai, aged 70) and sealed; with a wood storage box and certificate. Overall: 133cm x 82.5cm (52 3/8in x 32½in); image: 40cm x 69cm (15¼in x 27 1/8in). (4).
|One of Hokusai's earliest and most famous pupils, Teisai Hokuba, is best known for surimono (privately commissioned woodblock prints), book illustrations, and paintings of beauties; this unusual subject was painted late in his long and distinguished career.