JAPANESE ART > PAINTINGS ON SHIKISHI > HAPPINESS

Lot 00539
N.1 painting on shikishi

Keisen

HAPPINESS

Year: 2019
Condition: very good
Size: 24 x 27 cm

SOLD

The ideogram 福, depicting the blessing, but also more simply happiness and good luck, in its ancestral form appeared as two hands raised towards the sky that offered a wine cask over an altar. In its current form it is composed of the ideogram 示, which means omens from heaven, and 畐 a container filled with votive offerings.

In the tradition of the Far East this kanji represents, together with prosperity (禄) and longevity (寿), one of the three most important auspicious symbols of life. These three goals, visually represented in the Chinese mythology by the Three Stars (三星), ie the three deities Fu Xing (福星), Lu Xing (祿星) and Shou Xing (寿星), in Japan are summarized in the figure of Fukurokuju (福禄寿), one of the Seven Lucky Gods shichifukujin (七福神).

The work, made on a thick shikishi (色紙) cardboard with golden edges by the female calligrapher Keisen (恵泉), is in very good condition.

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