Preliminary identification
Photo reference
5 uploaded photos
Overview
A pair of Japanese hanging scrolls depicting pastoral farming scenes, mounted with bone roller ends (jiku-saki) and housed in a inscribed wooden box (tomobako). The paintings bear a signature reading 'Zeshin' with a red seal mark, showing a serene countryside scene with Mount Fuji faint in the background.
Story
Shibata Zeshin was a 19th-century Japanese master famed for bridging Edo-period traditions and Meiji modernity. These twin scrolls capture quiet agricultural life under Mount Fuji's gaze, complete with an authentication inscription on the wooden box lid.
Maker / Origin
Shibata Zeshin (1807–1891) was an extraordinary painter and lacquer artist revered both in Japan and internationally. He was renowned for his innovative lacquer-painting technique (urushi-e) on paper and his masterful, realistic yet lyrical brushwork in the Shijō school tradition.
Condition & Value
The painted silk or paper surface shows light age-related toning, minor creasing, and faint spotting. Mounting silk and bone roller ends remain intact, with the original fitted wooden box present.
Full Research
Sold comps, value drivers, and venue guidance pulled from recent auction results.
Your first full report is on us.
See sold comps, value drivers, and where to sell. One complimentary report, no card required.
Comparable demand stays strongest where maker, originality, and venue confidence line up. Broader examples still trade, but the range tightens quickly when provenance, condition, or selling lane fit is missing.
Best Venue
Specialty auction or a focused dealer with buyers already in this lane.
Signed example with light edge wear and original frame.
Comparable format with stronger provenance and cleaner surface.
Smaller related piece with visible craquelure and trimmed margins.
Period match with softer condition and weaker subject matter.
Close market lane comp with similar material and presentation.