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Hi all.
I have a painting of the Swedish boat named M/S Hispaniola, that it�s painted on a silk screen.
My Japanese is very bad so I hope to get some information on the artist.
I have been told that the signature can be read different depending on langue since they are also used in the Chinese langue.
Perhaps it says Hide Mine?

Many thanks from Martin P
Sweden

Hello Martin,
Hidemine, a Japanese given name, is one of the possible transcriptions for the two kanji characters. Others are Shuuhou and Subon, also given names, and Hidetaka, a personal name that my dictionary indicates is unclassified as to its usage.
Regards,
Bill H.

Hi Bill H
Thank you very much for the nice analysis on the signs.
I have tried to google the names you wrote to see if I was lucky, but not.
I live in Sweden and here there is only one way to spell a name.
In Europe there is art databases with names to help persons identify and value art.
Do you know if the same exist in the asian countries?
I guess it will be very hard to find information given that he could be unrecognized and there is more than one way to read the name.
So what to do?
Once again many thanks from Sweden

Martin,
I'm mainly a Chinese export porcelain collector, thus lack a broad appreciation of other types of internet databases that might be available for someone trying to identify information on Asian fine and graphic art and artists. I'm sure there must be Chinese and Japanese chat groups dedicated to these subjects, but this forum is as good a general source as I've found when it comes to across-the-board Asian art and antiques, especially for someone without Asian language skills.
Best regards,
Bill H.

Could the "Hidemine" be meant to read in English, "hide mine"? The English "Japan" suggests the artist is English-speaking. The initials "S. K." are probably those of the artist.

The painting may have no connection with Japan than the painter was there when the work was done, and had a Japanese-English dictionary to get the intriguing characters.

I cannot speculate why the painter wanted to not identified.

Good luck,
Cal

The two Japanese words (季峯) from top to bottom is similar to Chinese words: Ji Feng. Ji means season, probably Last name here. Feng means crest, probably is the first name. The name with two Japanese words are actually the same character as Chinese. Aisan last name always comes first, the first name comes last. I guess it a signature of the painter. I wish it helps.

First I would like to say thanks to all of you.

It could be as Cal saying a person signed it for fun, in reality no one can say for sure unless the signature or painter is found.

Thank you May for the fast lesson in reading Asian signs.
I will absolutely try to search for the name given by you.

I realize this is not a painting that I can sell for a lot of money.
Still I think is fun to identify the painter. So when someone ask me I can be able to tell that it�s ???? from Japan and he also have painted other paintings.

In Sweden there are only a few percents of the painters that are acknowledged and people remember. The other 97% no one remember. I guess it�s the same worldwide so my chances are extremely limited.
Perhaps you hear from me soon.
Thanks Martin

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