Two magpies on a flowering plum branch and bamboo

Description:

Japan, signed Sankai Dōjin, Taishō period, dated 1916
125,5 x 42 cm
Ink, light colors, and opaque white pigment on silk, mounted on a wooden panel. Vertical composition in the tradition of Japanese literati painting, depicting two lively magpies perched on the gnarled branch of a white-blossoming plum tree before softly washed bamboo leaves - a classic East Asian auspicious motif symbolizing the arrival of spring and good tidings. At upper left a poetic inscription in cursive script, titled, dated and signed: “In the 5th year of Taishō, the year of Hinoe-tatsu, in the first third of the 1st month [January 1916], [painted by] Sankai Dōjin", two artist’s seals, and a further seal in the lower right corner.
Formerly from a European private collection - Partially age-damaged, creases, minor foxing and water stains