Fujimoto Tesseki (1817-1863)Nanga
Pair of landscapesSigned: Tessenshi sha oite shûjô kaku ../ Tekkanshi
Seals: Gen Makane noin, Hitsu shi shin gû, Shosha kakuga(bt)/Gen Makane noin, Kibi danshi, umread (bt
Technique: sumi on silk 116 x 57,2
Date: Winter of 1858
Mounting: beige raw silk
207 x 70
Box: Autorized in 1898 by Nakajima Yasujiro (..-..) with an auction slip from Feb. 26-1940
Condition: good
The importance of Tesseki as a painter has been overshadowed by his political career and his romantic death as a martyr.
Tesseki was born into a samurai family from Okayama. From childhood he studied literature, poetry and calligraphy, Chinese as well as Japanese and the Chinese Sung style of painting, but also military tactics and martial arts. Around the age of 25 he went to Osaka and later to Kyoto. His military education, which he received in Kyoto, resulted in the rank of master swordsman.
Like many young intellectuals at that time, he went on a journey and studied at the Kangien, a school for (Neo-)Confucian studies. He returned to Kyoto in 1851. After Ii Naosuke (1815-1860), the head councillor of the shogunate had signed the treaty with the foreigners, and the imperial princess Kazu (1846-1877) had married the 14th shogun Tokugawa Iemochi (1846-1866) in a political alliance in 1862, Tesseki became a violent imperialist. He joined several raids and was killed in 1863 at Nara in a fight against the soldiers of the Kishu Clan.
Reference:
Berry & Morioka ’08 p. 254-56 (# 65, 76)
Kato ’98 (chapter 1) # 128-137
Addiss '83 pp. 198-199
Roberts p. 177
Araki p. 2749
Price: EUR 1,200 / USD 1,428