Soga Chokuan (active circa 1596-1615), Hawk on a pine tree, Momoyama period, late 16th – early 17th century | 曽我直庵　松に鷹図屏風　桃山時代　16世紀後半〜17世紀初頭

A private collector, Japan

Kochukyo Co., Ltd, Tokyo. 

Ano Utamaro ga kaettekita Fukagawa no yuki saikokai [Encore Exhibition: Kitagawa Utamaro's Fukagawa in Snow], Okada Museum of Art, Hakone, 2015, no number.

5th Anniversary Exhibition. All-Stars of the Okada Collection: Masterworks of Korin, Jakuchu, Hokusai and the Ru Ware Kilns, Okada Museum of Art, Hakone, 2018-19, exh. no. 379 (unillustrated).

Kobayashi Tadashi ed., Masterpieces of the Okada Museum of Art, vol. 1, Tokyo, 2013, p. 118-19, no. 87.

A hawk grips its perch, unwavering as a gust of wind tears through the pines. The mood is gallant befitting the new regime ushered in by Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582). Unlike the more mannered paintings deriving from Chinese models patronised by the Ashikaga shogunate in the preceding Muromachi period (1392-1573), the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1573-1615) taste was for the bold and heroic. Named after the grand castle complexes erected by Nobunaga and his vassal Toyotomi Hideoyoshi (1537-1598) – who became de facto ruler of Japan after his master’s assassination in 1582 – the period is often shortened to Momoyama, for its literal translation ‘Peach Blossom Hill’, aptly captures this era of opulence and artistic flourishing. 

Although the paintings of Chokuan are noted for their relatively conservative style, the use of gold pigment, the sense of movement created by the wind, and the strong diagonals that sweep across the six-panels of this large format screen are unmistakably Momoyama. Chokuan’s life is poorly documented, but he was born in Sakai south of Osaka, and was active in the area of Kyoto, Nara and Osaka from about 1596-1610.¹ He is thought to have descended from a line of artists in service to the Asakura clan in Echizen to the North of Kyoto.² Extant works indicate that he was familiar with the Kano school styles.³ He is known for his bird-and-flower paintings (kachoga), particularly of hawks – his son Soga Nichokuan (active mid-17th century) also continued work in this specialisation.

Regarded as embodiments of the warrior spirit, hawks were revered by the samurai for their fearsome grace and were an apt subject for display in the households of the military elite. The ‘eccentric’ artist Soga Shohaku (1730-1781) [see Lot 1018] also produced several hawk paintings, likely in an effort to assert a lineage with these earlier Soga school painters. ⁴

1. Money L. Hickman ed., Japan’s Golden Age: Momoyama, Dallas, 1996, p. 174.

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. Kobayashi Tadashi ed., Masterpieces of the Okada Museum of Art, vol. 1, Tokyo, 2013, p. 118-19.

來源

日本私人收藏

壺中居，東京

展覽

《あの歌麿が帰ってきた　深川の雪　再公開》，岡田美術館， 箱根， 2015年

《美のスターたち-光琳・若冲・北斎・汝窯など名品ぞろい》，岡田美術館，箱根， 2018年，展覽編號379（沒載圖）

出版

小林忠編，《岡田美術館名品撰》，卷1，東京，2013年，編號87

蒼鷹傲立棲枝，任憑狂風穿松仍巋然不動。畫面充盈雄渾豪邁之氣，恰與織田信長（1534-1582年）開創的新政權氣象相契。相較於足利幕府推崇、源自中國範式的室町時代（1392-1573年）之拘謹畫風，安土桃山時代（1573-1615年）的審美追求雄渾豪壯。信長及其家臣豐臣秀吉（1537-1598年）於1582年主公遇刺後成為日本實際統治者，這一時期便因他們所築宏偉城郭得名，常簡稱為「桃山」。其字面意涵「桃花山」，精妙凝練了此段奢華絢爛的藝術盛世。

儘管曾我直庵的畫作素以相對保守風格著稱，此六曲屏風仍透顯典型的桃山氣韻：金箔顏料之運用、風勢營造的流動感，以及橫掃大畫面構圖的強勁對角線，無不彰顯此特質。曾我直庵生平記載匱乏，僅知生於大阪以南的堺市，約1596-1610年間活躍於京都、奈良與大阪一帶。¹據信其出身自京都北方越前地區侍奉朝倉氏的藝術世家。² 傳世作品顯示其熟稔狩野派風格³，尤以擅長鷹圖聞名，其子曾我二朝（活動於17世紀中期）亦承襲此專項創作。

鷹隼被視為武士精神之化身，因兼具威猛與優雅而深受武家尊崇，常陳設於軍事精英宅邸。異才畫家曾我蕭白（1730-1781）［參見編號1018拍品］亦創作多幅鷹圖，或為彰顯與早期曾我派畫家的傳承脈絡⁴。

1. 蒙尼·L·希克曼編，《Japan’s Golden Age: Momoyama》，達拉斯，1996年，頁174。

2. 同上。

3. 同上。

4. 小林忠編，《岡田美術館名品撰》，卷1，東京，2013年，頁118-119。