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Hi!

I recently purchased this small Japanese kakejiku depicting (I think) Hariti and I am just trying to find out a little more about it.

Is it actually Hariti? As she has a babe in arms and is holding a sprig of Pomegranate, I am pretty sure it must be.

I have been trying to translate the signature, and I think the characters are as follows (Top - Bottom) -

蘭 室 謹 寫

When I use an online translator to translate from Japanese, the first two characters read -

蘭 室 - Ranshitsu

But the second two only translate from Chinese -

謹 寫 - Sincerely/Solemnly / Write

I often see variants of these characters (書 / 寫) on Chinese and Japanese paintings and I think is just means 'Signed' by?

So I guess I'm just wondering if my analysis is correct and the characters basically translate as 'Written by Ranshitsu' or 'Signed by Ranshitsu'? And if the red seal mark would also correlate correctly?

Also, if the name 'Ranshitsu' is correct, does anyone know anything about this artist? As I would love to know how old the painting is, and of course, who painted it!

Thank you so very much in advance if you can help!

I think that it is a representation of Hariti (in Japan Kishimojin) indeed.
The signature reads 'Ranshitsu kinsha' (rendered by Ranhitsu in a respectful manner). The only reference that I found to this Meiji artist is a recent sale at an auction house in the UK (see link; you can zoom in on the signature). Ranshitsu is a Buddhist name used as a pseudonym.

Guy.

URL Title :Duke\'s Auctioneers

If we assume that Ranshitsu is an artist's name, you have certainly got one possibility covered. The last two words in the inscription mean as you suggest "sincerely inscribed". Another possibility is that the first two characters are either a location (The Orchid Room, a study), or an artist's nickname. But I suggest looking for information about artists using the characters in the seal, 士淳, which seems to be a nickname for the artist. I don't see any artists listed in Chinese sources who use this name, but as you point out this may be a Japanese painting. I'd also suggest looking into the possibility that it was painted in Taiwan. The paper seems dark and heavy for a Japanese venerative painting.

Thank you very much for your replies Guy and Rat!

Guy, I did see this auction page when I was doing some preliminary searches and it looks like the first two characters of the signature are identical to those on my kakejiku, so it may be the case that both were painted by the same artist, or, there are two separate artists both using the pen name 'Ranshitsu'.

Rat, I did see the literal translation of 'Orchid Room', but do you think it is likely that it would be signed in this manner? Surely it would be more likely to be a name rather than a location? I have seen many Chinese paintings signed with locations, but I think this is pretty uncommon with Japanese paintings? Anyway, thank you profusely for deciphering the seal, of course I could isolate 士, but the other character 淳 was proving more difficult! I think these two character read 'Shijun' in Japanese? I did find a reference that suggest Kono Bairei used this name as a pseudonym, but I think I may be over-reaching as I cannot find an example of his work that is signed in this way.

I also did think that the paper used was unusual, but I do have some other examples of Japanese venerative paintings of Amaterasu and Acala that are painted on similar dark coloured paper, so maybe it is uncommon as oppose to unheard of?

Anyway, once again, thank you both very much for your input!

I'll defer to Guy on all things Japanese, was just offering ideas that came to mind as I saw your picture.

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