262 - ITO JAKUCHU: MANDARIN DUCKS IN THE SNOW

ITO JAKUCHU: MANDARIN DUCKS IN THE SNOW Attributed to Ito Jakuchu (1716-1800), signed Jakuchu with seals To Jokin no in and Jakuchu koji Japan, dated 1774 Ink, watercolors, and gouache on silk. Mounted as a hanging scroll on a silk brocade frame with antler jikusaki (roller ends). Finely painted with birds in a snowy winter landscape, a male mandarin duck perched on a snow-covered rock above the water while another duck feeds below, and three smaller birds resting among the long drooping branches of a snow-laden willow. The composition is further detailed with flowering shrubs, layered rocks, and falling snow, the birds rendered in vivid naturalistic detail against the subdued ground. Inscriptions: To the upper left, signed and inscribed 安永甲午孟冬寫於洗心館、若冲 An'ei kinoe-uma moto, Senshin-kan nite utsusu, Jakuchu [In the early winter (November) of the kinoe-uma year of the An'ei era (An'ei 3, 1774), painted at the Senshin-kan Studio, Jakuchu], and with two seals, 藤汝鈞印 To Jokin no in and 若冲居士 Jakuchu koji. Image SIZE 116.7 x 49 cm, SIZE incl. mounting 196.8 x 63 cm Provenance: Ex-collection Dr. Claudio Perino, Turin, Italy, acquired mostly in Japan in the early 2000s. Dr. Claudio Perino (b. 1951) is a collector with a keen interest in Japanese, Chinese and Far Eastern cultures. His collection consists of over 2000 works of art, partly loaned to the Museum of Oriental Arts (MAO) in Turin, Italy and to the Museo delle Culture (MUSEC) in Lugano, Switzerland.Condition: Very good condition with minor wear and vibrant colors. Little soiling, light creasing, scattered foxing, and minor flaking to the pigments, mainly to the white gouache. The frame with usual traces of wear and use. Ito Jakuchu (1716-1800) inherited his father’s greengrocery business but preferred to live the solitary life of a painter. Sometime in his early thirties he became interested in Zen Buddhism and met Daiten Kenjo (1719-1801), a scholar-monk who became abbot of Shokoku-ji, one of the five most important Zen monasteries in Kyoto. Daiten proved influential in the artist’s life going forward. Jakuchu is usually described as an idiosyncratic nonconformist, positioning him in stark contrast to the prevailing orthodox Kano lineage. However, his meticulously detailed paintings reveal his own conscientious reliance on Chinese prototypes. Daiten, his friend, patron and spiritual guide, made the Chinese works available to him. For example, the artist was able to study original paintings of cranes by the obscure fifteenth-century Chinese artist Wen Zheng that were preserved at Shokoku-ji. Today, Jakuchu is a household name in Japan - exhibitions of his work are always blockbusters, and for good reason. Literature comparison: Compare a closely related hanging scroll painting depicting Mandarin ducks in the snow, by Ito Jakuchu, dated 1759, in the Museum of the Imperial Collections, Sannomaru Shozokan, management number SZK002949-003. Auction comparison: Compare a related painting of a sedge of seven cranes, by Ito Jakuchu and from the same collection, dated c. 1755, at Zacke, Fine Japanese Art, 12 June 2026, Vienna, lot 285 (sold for EUR 18,200).