Asianart.com | Associations | Articles | Exhibitions | Galleries

Attached are images with inverted color images of writing on the outside and signature on the painting of a scroll I posted on December 1. I was hoping the inverted color would help someone tell me what it all says.

Inscription,
小行道内蛙□　-　Frogs □ on the small road
(I can't read the last □　marked character
Signature,
耕年　-　Kōnen (Japanese) - Gengnian (Chinese)

Beneath the inscription there are two Japanese katakana syllabary signs "シナ"(Shina) which in pre-war Japanese usage means "China".

(However, in my opinion it may be a false assumption by a later owner)

Seal reads,
耕年　- Kōnen or Gengnian

On the Chinese net and in my Chinese ID dictionaries I couldn't find a painter with name Gengnian.
On the other hand there was a Japanese painter, named Kumagami Kōnen 熊耳耕年、1869-1938、
a disciple of Tsukioka Hōnen.

The easiest would be to show the picture itself, -so it would become immediately clear whether it is Japanese or Chinese.

With regards,
I.Nagy

Here are photos.

Dear Steve,
Thank you for the new photos.
The clothes and hair-style (top-knot) of the man depicted on the picture make it clear that it is Chinese.
The Japanese katakana syllabary signs "Shina - China" proved to be true, however it was written by different hand.

The inscription on the mounting is,
小行道内蛙躍　-　Small road, frog , dance
耕年　-　Gengnian - Pseudonym

The artist is invariably unknown.

With regards,
I.Nagy

The scroll was obtained by my Aunt Jean while she and uncle Bill were stationed in Japan after the war. He was a Colonel in the Medical Corps. Aunt Jean, now 101, traveled extensively between China and Japan becoming assimilated into the culture. She can not remember where she obtained the scroll, only that it was during their stationing in Japan.

I also attached a composite close-up of the man and the frog.

Asianart.com | Associations | Articles | Exhibitions | Galleries |