No. 21, T'ien Chen, T'ien King, and T'ien Kwang: Dividing the Rose Tree, 1891

by Chikanobu (1838 - 1912)

Current Status

No. 21, T'ien Chen, T'ien King, and T'ien Kwang: Dividing the Rose Tree, 1891  by Chikanobu (1838 - 1912)

Original Chikanobu (1838 - 1912) Japanese Woodblock Print
No. 21, T'ien Chen, T'ien King, and T'ien Kwang: Dividing the Rose Tree, 1891

Series; Juxtaposed Pictures of Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety

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. 21, T'ien Chen, T'ien King, and T'ien Kwang: Dividing the Rose Tree, 1891 - Lovely image of three beauties gathered in a courtyard garden under a blossoming cherry three. They smile and chat happily, enjoying each other's company. The paragon above shows the three brothers T'ien Chen, T'ien King, and T'ien Kwang (in Japanese, Denshin, Denko, and Denkei). After their parents died, they decided to split up the family property into three equal parts, but they were unsure what to do with the beautiful rose tree that grew in the garden. They finally decided to saw it into three equal parts. To their surprise, the next day the tree had withered and died after hearing the plan to cut it up. The men remembered the happy times they had spent beneath the tree, and decided that they should keep the family together rather than splitting it up, and the tree suddenly sprang back into life. A charming modern image for this interesting paragon.

Artist - Chikanobu (1838 - 1912)

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

Condition - This print with excellent color and detail as shown. A couple vertical wrinkles, slight spotting at edges, faint ink offsetting, small rubbed spot, a few creases. Please see photos for details. Good overall.

No. 21, T'ien Chen, T'ien King, and T'ien Kwang: Dividing the Rose Tree, 1891  by Chikanobu (1838 - 1912)
No. 21, T'ien Chen, T'ien King, and T'ien Kwang: Dividing the Rose Tree, 1891  by Chikanobu (1838 - 1912)

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