The Demon Queller Shōki, with Two Quelled Demons

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[The "Demon Queller" Shōki, with Two Quelled Demons]

Sōsai [Tomioka], Eisen [signed by].

[Japan, ca. Meiji period (1880-1890s?)]. In manuscript.

An expressive painting of Shōki (Zhong Kui), "the Demon Queller", accompanied by two house-broken demons. Shōki has sheathed his famous sword. One demon seems to carry a box, the other two rolls of paper (?). The three figures appear to float upon clouds. The artist, Tomioka Eisen (1864-1905), was a pupil of Koyabashi Eitaku (1843-1890). He produced illustrations for newspapers and magazines in the 1880s and 1890s and excelled at painting beautiful women. Many of his illustrations were produced as colour woodblock-printed kuchi-e (frontispieces) for magazines like Bungei Kurabu. One of his pupils was Hamada Josen. The artist's signature reads Sōsai 藻斎 and his seal Eisen 永洗.

Sandan hyōsō (three-layered) mounting, original jiku (scroll-knobs) present. Pigments on silk. Very small marks resembling ink flecks to silk and mounting. Mounting lightly foxed, worn, and creased. Ex-ownership inscription to mounting verso. Housed in original wooden box, lid and lid verso inscribed. Mounting measures 191 x 52.1 cm; illustration on silk measures 103.5 x 39.6 cm.

The Demon Queller Shōki, with Two Quelled Demons
Price: $1,680.00 (USD)