1830, Aoki Mokubei, Southern Star, the Bestower of Long Life -- National Museum of Asian Art (Washington)
From the museum label: This small painting encapsulates the intimate nature of personal relationships within the early modern literati ecosystem. Aoki Mokubei envisioned the image of Jurōjin, one of the Seven Gods of Good Fortune, as a representation of the Southern Star, or Canopus. This celestial interpretation symbolizes peace and longevity. In the lower part of Mokubei's inscription, brushed in rambling, uneven characters, he conveys the purpose of the artwork: "Image of the Bestower of Long Life, the Southern Star, painted in celebration of the Venerable Mu'i aged seventy, by Seibei [Mokubei] in his sixty-fourth year at the time." The painting and the box that contained it, on view in the case behind you, were a birthday present for Mu'i (d. 1847), a priest from a Zen temple in today's Fukui prefecture.
1830, Aoki Mokubei, Southern Star, the Bestower of Long Life -- National Museum of Asian Art (Washington)
From the museum label: This small painting encapsulates the intimate nature of personal relationships within the early modern literati ecosystem. Aoki Mokubei envisioned the image of Jurōjin, one of the Seven Gods of Good Fortune, as a representation of the Southern Star, or Canopus. This celestial interpretation symbolizes peace and longevity. In the lower part of Mokubei's inscription, brushed in rambling, uneven characters, he conveys the purpose of the artwork: "Image of the Bestower of Long Life, the Southern Star, painted in celebration of the Venerable Mu'i aged seventy, by Seibei [Mokubei] in his sixty-fourth year at the time." The painting and the box that contained it, on view in the case behind you, were a birthday present for Mu'i (d. 1847), a priest from a Zen temple in today's Fukui prefecture.