270 - MARUYAMA OKYO: DRAGONS AND TIGERS IN FIERCE COMBAT

MARUYAMA OKYO: DRAGONS AND TIGERS IN FIERCE COMBAT By Maruyama Okyo (1733-1795), sealed Okyo no in Japan, c. 1770, Edo period (1615-1868) Ink, watercolors, gouache, and gold paint on silk. Mounted as a hanging scroll within silk-brocade borders. Finely painted with two sinuous dragons and two snarling tigers locked in a dramatic struggle, their bodies tightly intertwined in a powerful, swirling composition. One dragon grasps the tail of a tiger, while the tiger retaliates by sinking its teeth into the dragon's tail. The twisting serpentine forms of the dragons contrast with the muscular bodies and richly striped coats of the tigers, creating a remarkably animated interpretation of this celebrated subject. Inscriptions: To the lower left, sealed 應舉之印 Okyo no in [Seal of Okyo]. Image SIZE 106 x 51 cm, SIZE incl. mounting 183.5 x 64 cm. Provenance: German private collection. Inscribed in German 'Drachen und Tiger' to the reverse. Condition: Good condition with minor wear, creasing, light soiling, and some flaking to the pigment along the left margin. The mounting with traces of age and minuscule losses. Only one antler roller end is preserved. The pairing of dragon and tiger, known as ryuko-zu, is one of the most enduring subjects in East Asian painting, inherited in Japan from the Chinese pictorial tradition. The dragon, associated with the heavens, clouds, water, and rain, confronts the earthbound tiger, traditionally linked with the terrestrial realm and the wind. Together they embody two formidable and opposing natural forces held in dynamic balance. In the present painting, this traditional confrontation is intensified dramatically: rather than merely facing one another across separate compositions, the dragons and tigers are brought together in a single compact field, physically entangled in a ferocious struggle. While individual tigers appear frequently in Okyo's oeuvre, and the traditional dragon-and-tiger subject was commonly conceived as a pair of facing compositions, the present work offers a remarkably unusual interpretation: two dragons and two tigers are brought together within a single pictorial field and physically entangled in fierce combat. Rather than confronting one another across separate scrolls, the opposing forces collide directly, transforming the conventional ryuko-zu theme into an exceptionally dynamic and tightly unified composition. Maruyama Okyo (1733-1795) was one of the most influential painters of eighteenth-century Kyoto and the founder of the Maruyama School. He trained in Kano-school techniques under Ishida Yutei and developed a distinctive style combining Chinese painting traditions, Western methods of perspective and modeling, and shasei - close observation from life. His animal paintings became particularly celebrated for their combination of acute observation, remarkably tactile surfaces, and powerful decorative composition. Museum comparison: Compare a related pair of hanging scrolls depicting Dragon and Tiger, by Maruyama Okyo, dated 1770, each c. 106 x 50 cm (image size), in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, object no. 2023.583.16a, b. Auction comparison: Compare a related hanging scroll painting depicting a dragon amidst clouds, by the same artist, signed Okyo and sealed Okyo no in and Chusen, 115.3 x 53.7 cm, at Christie's, Japanese and Korean Art, 16 September 2025, New York, lot 109 (sold for USD 13,970 or approx. EUR 12,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing).