Kanrin gafu　閑林画譜　

FSC-GR-780.488.1-2

Commentary by Itō Shiori　
Posted April 26, 2017
Original unedited text in Japanese follows

Okada Kanrin 岡田閑林（1775–1849）appears to have been a shogunal vassal who lived in a residence for lower-ranking retainers (kumiyashiki) in the Mejirodai area of Edo. A student of the artist Tani Bunchō, many of his bird-and-flower paintings in the style of the Chinese painter Shen Nanpin 沈南蘋 (J. Shin Nanpin; 1682–after 1760) have survived to this day. The initial illustration in the first volume of Kanrin gafu (Kanrin’s painting album) depicts a red-billed blue magpie on a plum tree branch with a seal reading “Thirty Years of Kanrin’s Accomplishments” (Kanrin sanjūnen kofū 閑林三十年工夫). This perhaps indicates that this volume was published to commemorate Kanrin’s long career and his involvement in the painting world.

All the illustrations in Kanrin gafu are in the bird-and flower genre (kachōga), and a number are in a Shen Nanpin mode. The first volume begins with a preface by the Sinologist Ibe Kōzan 井部香山(1793–1853) and is followed by a second inscription by Kikuchi Gozan 菊池五山 (1769–1849) that extolls the beauty of flower-and-bird compositionsprinted in color. The Confucianist Ueda Zen’en 上田善淵 (1773–1851), the Edo envoy for the Iyosaijō clan, wrote the postscript.

The copy housed in the Chiba City Museum of Art from the collection of Robert Ravicz (1921–1993) is believed to predate the Pulverer copy. The work also has Kanrin’s vermillion seal. The last page in the Pulverer copy is missing a colophon with the publishing details, and only lists the names of the carver (Gotō Nabekichi 後藤鍋吉) and printer (Shinoda Hidetarō 篠田芳太郎). The inside front cover of the Pulverer copy has the date inscription “A winter’s day in Tenpō 15” (Tenpō kinoe-tatsu fuyubi 天保甲辰冬日 [1844]; the era name changed to Kōka in the twelfth month of that year). Perhaps the example without a colophon on the final page was released first (the Ravicz copy), and the subsequent printing (the Pulverer copy) is that with the publication date of the second month (spring) of 1845 (Kōka 2). The last opening of the second volume of the Pulverer copy states that Kanrin is the block-holder, and the inside back cover names the publisher as Hanabusa Daisuke 英大助 (Mankyūd ō萬笈堂). It was most likely issued in 1845 or later.

書名　閑林画譜　
執筆者　伊藤紫織

岡田閑林（1775～1849）は谷文晁の弟子である。沈南蘋風の花鳥画を多く残す。幕臣であったらしく目白台の組屋敷に住んでいた。本書は閑林が長年画業に取り組んだことを記念して出版されたとみられ、乾巻の第一図の梅綬帯鳥図には「閑林三十年工夫」の印がある。図は全て花鳥画で、南蘋風のものが多い。乾には漢学者井部香山（1793～1853）による序文と菊池五山（1769～1849）の題がある。跋は伊予西条藩儒で江戸詰だった上田善淵（1773～1851）による。プルヴェラー本に先行すると見られる千葉市美術館ラヴィッツ・コレクション本は閑林の印のみ朱で実際に押し、最後のページは刊記がなく、彫師後藤鍋吉と摺師篠田芳太郎の名のみ載る。プルヴェラー本も表紙見返しは天保甲辰冬日（1844、12月に改元して弘化となる）である。最後のページに刊記のないものが先に刊行され、次に弘化2年春2月の刊記を伴って刊行されたものだろう。52ページに閑林の蔵版と記し、裏の見返しでは英大助板となっているプルヴェラー本は弘化2年もしくはそれ以後の刊行と考える。

Selected readings:　
C. H. Mitchell, with the assistance of Osamu Ueda, The Illustrated Books of the Nanga, Maruyama, Shijo and Other Related Schools of Japan. A Biobibliography (Los Angeles: Dawson’s Book Shop, 1972), 339–40.

Jack Hillier, The Art of the Japanese Book, 2 vols. (London: Sotheby’s Publications by Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd., 1987), esp. vol. 2, 806–7.

Copies in other collections:
British Museum, London
Chiba City Museum of Art
National Diet Library, Tokyo
Nishio City Iwase Bunko Library, Aichi Prefecture
New York Public Library
Tokyo Metropolitan Central Library
Tokyo National Museum
Tokyo University of the Arts, University Library