Taki Katei (1830-1901) Crane and BambooEdo period (1615-1868) or Meiji era (1868-1912), second half of the 19th century
Kakejiku (hanging scroll), ink and slight colours on paper in silk mounts with ivory jikusaki (roller-ends), depicting a tanchozuru (red-crested crane) and bamboo, with rocks and grasses in the foreground; inscribed Seifu kokaku (Fresh breeze and tall crane) and signed and sealed Katei, with a further undeciphered seal at lower left. Overall: 209.5 x 51.2cm (82 1/2 x 20 1/8in); image: 136 × 31.5cm (53 1/2 × 12 3/8in)注脚Taki Katei was a celebrated artist whose diversity and delicate skill with the brush won him many admirers and assured him a place in several international expositions. Neglected after his death, he is now better known thanks to the groundbreaking research of Dr Rosina Buckland (see her Painting Nature for the Nation: Taki Katei and the Challenges to Sinophile Culture In Meiji Japan, Leiden, Brill, 2013). Remarkably, a collection of his sketches (including another depiction of a red-crested crane) is preserved in World Museum, Liverpool and is currently being showcased there in a special exhibition Drawing on Nature: Taki Katei's Japan (4 October 2019-13 April 2020).