This is a Shikishi Kake Scroll for a bonsai/art lover in Arizona. This cloth with Red and Blue Koi in waves reminiscent of the ukiyo-e or earlier yamato-e style of painting on a blue cloth background. Sorry the picture came out as black cloth, but it is really a navy blue. I wish I had a better camera.
The calligraphy in the middle is written in the Kaisho or block print style by Ryugyoku and is the character Ran for beauty. This customer actually purchased a similar character with an alternate meaning in a semi-cursive style called Shuku.
The customer requested the shikishi to hang offset to the left which allows more space to be devoted to the beautiful Koi and the calligraphy to take a less prominent position in the overall work.
The scroll includes plastic cream jikusaki with a beige kakehimo. I enjoyed making this piece because the Koi has such a rich history in Japanese Kazari and decoration. Particularly, my family hangs the 'Koi Nobori' (Koi Shaped Windsocks) in honor of boys day and I thank the customer for designing this jointly and giving me such good memories.
2 comments:
This is a very interesting scroll layout. Is that a mini shikishi board?
Never mind! I don't know how I missed the word "shikishi" like 20 times in the article.
I didn't know the boards came that small. Or, is it a standard square with a large scroll backing? I can send you some of these boards.
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