Page 103 - Bonhams Fine Japanese Art London Nov. 2019

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KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI (1760–1849)
ASCENDING DRAGON
Edo period (1615-1868), dated 1840
Kakejiku (hanging scroll), ink and slight colours on paper in silk mounts,
depicting a dragon ascending above a great wave crashing under
Mount Fuji, signed Gakyo Rojin manji hitsu yowai hachijuichi (Brush of
Manji, old man crazy to paint, aged 81) and sealed Katsushika; with
a double wood storage box, the inner box inscribed outside the lid
Noboriryu, Fuji no e (Picture of an ascending dragon and Mount Fuji).
Overall: 193cm x 58.4cm (76in x 23in);
image: 135.3cm × 37.2cm (53¼in × 14 5/8in). (3).
£125,000 - 135,000
JPY16,000,000 - 18,000,000
US$150,000 - 170,000

Published:
Hokusaikan Museum, Gakyojin Katsushika Hokusai (Katsushika
Hokusai, Mad About Art), exhibition catalogue, Obuse, Nagano Pref.,
Hokusaikan, 2010, cat.no.103.
Asano Shugo (ed.), Hokusai ketteiban (The Definitive Hokusai Edition),
Bessatsu Taiyo, 25 November 2010, p.21.

Exhibited:
Hokusaikan Museum, Takai Kozan Memorial Museum and Obuse
Museum/The Nakajima Chinami Gallery, Fuji to sakura ten (Fuji and
Cherry Blossom Exhibition), October 2010.

As noted by the authors of Hokusai ketteiban (The Definitive Hokusai
Edition), referred to above, Hokusai loved to paint dragons, most often
rising energetically into the firmament. They suggest that the present
lot might be viewed as a precursor to another scroll (see Hokusai
ketteiban, p.47) painted in the last year of Hokusai’s long life and
depicting the same combination of his favourite motifs of Mount Fuji
and a dragon (the latter perhaps an embodiment of Hokusai himself);
here, however, Hokusai also looks backwards to his most famous
woodblock print design Kanagawa-oki nami-ura (generally known as
‘The Great Wave’), published around 1830-1. The rising dragon and
Fuji pairing became particularly popular in the late Edo period; for an
example by Suzuki Kiitsu painted a few years after the present lot, see
Matthew P. McKelway, Silver Wind: The Arts of Sakai Hoitsu (1761–
1828), New York, Japan Society, 2012, cat.no.51.

For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue. FINE JAPANESE ART | 101