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Six Zen Calligraphies, 1910s-1930s

Creator: Gidō Kōkan
Offered by: Thomsen Gallery

Description
Gidō Kōkan 義道弘貫
Six Zen Calligraphies, 1910s-1930s
Ink on paper
Image size each scroll 53¼ x 13¼ in. (135 x 33.5 cm)
Overall size each scroll 80¼ x 18½ in. (204 x 47 cm)
T-0965
Each signed Ōbaku Gidō sho (Written by Ōbaku Gidō) and sealed Ōbakuzanshu (Master of Mount Ōbaku) and Gidō.

Each scroll comes with a fitted kiri-wood box

Gidō Kōkan was the 48th Abbot of Manpukuji Temple in Kyoto, headquarters of the Ōbaku Sect of Rinzai Zen.

The calligraphies comprise six well-known Chinese ten-character Zen couplets, and read as follows (from right to left):

1 and 2: Pine trees do not change their color with age; bamboo has nodes both above and below ground.
3 and 4: Plum blossoms bud before snow and frost; their flowers are fragrant after wind and rain.
5 and 6: Rivers flow but once were in the ocean; the moon sinks but does leave the heavens.

More Information

Documentation:	Signed
Period:	1920-1949
Condition:	Good.
Styles / Movements:	Asian Art
Incollect Reference #:	759876

Dimensions

W.	13.25 in;	H.	53.25 in;
W.	33.66 cm;	H.	135.26 cm;

Message from Seller:

Thomsen gallery, located in a townhouse on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, offers important Japanese paintings and works of art to collectors and museums worldwide. The gallery specializes in Japanese screens and scrolls; in early Japanese tea ceramics from the medieval through the Edo periods; in masterpieces of ikebana bamboo baskets; and in gold lacquer objects.