Two Sennin
late 16th-early 17th century
The extensive spiritual practice of Daoist immortals allows them to transcend mundane limits and avoid death. This composition features an immortal flying on horseback, probably Zhang Guolao, who carried a donkey or horse in a gourd and decanted it when he wanted to ride it. The surprised figures on either side are stock figures of the Kano studio of painters, which emerged in the late 1400s in Kyoto, and for which Eitoku served as fifth-generation head. The same trio of surprised figures, for example, appears on sliding-door panels created in 1606 to decorate the abbot’s residence at Ryо̄anji, a well-known Zen monastery. Like those panels, this triptych was likely created by one of Eitoku’s sons, working in the style of the master shortly after his death.
Watercolor and ink on paper mounted on silk, ivory
Overall (incl mounting, endknobs & hanging braid): 101 × 33 3/4 in. (256.5 × 85.7 cm)
Image: 52 5/8 × 24 3/8 in. (133.7 × 61.9 cm)
Width (without endknobs): 31 1/2 in. (80 cm)
Margaret E. Fuller Purchase Fund
57.60.1
Provenance: [Yamanaka & Co.]; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1957
