Attributed to Shibata Zeshin - 柴田 是真 (1807-1891), painting o - Lot 204

Attributed to Shibata Zeshin - 柴田 是真 (1807-1891), painting on silk mounted in kakemono, Japan, late Edo period, 19th century Ink and pigments on silk, tanzaku format, pasted on a cream silk kakemono mount, depicting a hachi-tataki (tea whisk merchant). Chasen yuzudo (茶筅売図), literally: "image of a tea whip seller", is a relatively common subject in ukiyo-e iconography. Famous artists such as Hokusai used this subject. The closed scroll bears a label with the inscription Hachi tataki - "Zeshin drawing" - 是真鉢たたき圖. 37.5 x 5.5 cm The hachi-tataki were religious street artists. In the Edo period, they practiced dancing nenbutsu at the Kûya Dô temple in Kyôto and paid tribute to the dead at cemeteries, while selling chasen to earn a living.