IKE TAIGA (1723-1776), JAPAN, EDO PERIOD, 18TH CENTURY

Taiga was equally skilled as a painter and calligrapher, and was well versed in Chinese painting and poetry of the literati style. During his lifetime, he was acclaimed more for his calligraphy than his painting. Here, he writes in a deliberately awkward and distorted style. The poem has not yet been identified.

Box lid titled, authenticated and inscribed in 1952 by the Osaka-born Nanga painter Mizuta Chikuho (1883–1958), also known as Gichian (Ant pond) and Chikuho sanjin (Recluse of the bamboo field).