Chikanobu's Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety - The Chinese scholar Guo Jujing wrote the book "The Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Devotion" during the Yuan Dynasty. Inspired by the loss of his own parents, he scoured history for examples of the most respectful and devoted children. Alluding to the famous stories of the twenty-four children and their extraordinary devotion to their parents and relatives, Chikanobu's series juxtaposes the paragon in the upper panel with a more modern equivalent below. The artist plays off the old stories, offering serious parallels as well as lighthearted and humorous contrasts in the modern versions.

No. 4, Min Ziqian: Clad In A Threadbare Jacket, He Tolerated His Cruel Stepmother - Charming scene of a mother with her three children. The young boy at right is dressed in the latest Western-styling clothing, wearing a plaid suit, striped stockings, and a red knit tam topped with a pompom, while the boy at left wears a simple striped kimono. The scene is a parallel for the image above of Min Ziqian (Binshiken), whose stepmother gave her own two sons preferential treatment. She dressed them in fine cotton coats, while making Min a thin coat out of reed catkins. When his father realized what she had done, he intended to turn her out of the house, but Min begged his father to let her return. An attractive design, nicely detailed.

Artist - Chikanobu (1838 - 1912)

Image Size - 13 1/4" x 8 3/4" + margins as shown

Condition - With excellent color and detail as shown. Slight paper remnants on reverse from previous backing. Faint red offsetting, slight soiling and rubbing. Please see photos for details.