JAPANESE BUNJIN-GA, LITERATI PAINTINGS. AN ALBUM OF COPIES OF 56 LITERATI PAINTINGS.

Japan: No publisher, ca. 1880. An Album of copies of Literati Paintings. Illustrated with 56 Literati Paintings mounted on 25 double-sided accordion-fold boards, some with woodblock colour, some finished in colour by hand, the illustrations mounted with gilt-speckled borders. Oblong folio, the album 28 3/4 x 17 1/2 cm., the paintings 22 x 13 1/2 cm., the upper cover of the album with original padded silk brocade and paper label. The album includes 7 'Poetry Competition paintings and poems from the '100 Famous Poems', an 8th century Heian period compilation. A very pleasing example, well preserved with minor rubbing to the extremities, the mountings and illustrations all in fine condition. A FINE EXAMPLE. THE JAPANESE ART OF BUNJIN-GA WAS INTRODUCED IN THE 17TH CENTURY FROM CHINA'S SOUTHERN SCHOOL OF PAINTING. This occurred during the Ming dynasty through the 'Painting Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden', although that in itself was based on Song and Yuan dynasty landscape painting; and the poetry of the Japanese literati painting was in the style of Classical Chinese poetry, termed Kanbun in Japan.
Literati painting in Japan is generally referred to as Bunjinga (literati painting; Ch. Wen ren hua) or Nanga (Southern School painting; Ch. nan zong hua), both terms borrowed from China. Wen ren hua refers to the status of artists who belonged to the scholar-gentleman class. Nan zong hua was coined by the Chinese painter and theorist Dong Qichang (b. 1555–d. 1636), who used it to describe art by literati, ostensibly amateurs, whose paintings were indebted to their mastery of calligraphy, expressed their inner feelings, and sought to capture the spiritual essence of their subjects. Japanese Literati Painting and Calligraphy
P. J. Graham, F. L. Chance.