Description
SMALL PAINTING
in ink, colours and gold highlights on paper, accompanied by a calligraphic piece opposite, depicting two blue women with long hair and full breasts in a landscape. The calligraphy describes the Kingdom of Sicily: Kingdom of Sjikyariya (the Japanese transcription of the Chinese name Sijialiye, a name associated with Sicily, which is itself the Chinese transcription of its Arabic name, thanks to the trade that took place along the Silk Road). However, in this type of work, usually bound in an accordion-style format, the texts alternate with the illustrations, and it is likely that this illustration does not relate to the accompanying text, but to that on the previous page, which concerns another nation. Most likely Môminkoku, the ‘Kingdom of the Hairy People’, described in the Shanhaijing, the ‘Book of Mountains and Seas’.
(Water stain).
Japan, c. 16th–17th centuries.
AN INK AND COLOUR PAINTING ON PAPER FROM AN ALBUM DEPICTING FOREIGN COUNTRIES, JAPAN, 16TH–17TH CENTURIES.
Note
The text on Sicily translates as follows: “In this country, near the land of Rubi (the Japanese transcription of the kingdom of Lumei, probably an ancient transcription of Rome), there is a cavity at the summit of a mountain. In all seasons, fire emerges from it. The inhabitants of the country place large stones, weighing between one hundred and one thousand kin, into this cavity. The stones burn and shatter there. Once every five years, a great fire bursts forth and reaches the seashore. The stones then become like charcoal. The trees and forests, however, do not burn.” This is a fairly faithful Japanese translation of a passage from the geographical treatise *Zhu Fan Zhi*, a work written by Zhao Rukuo during the Southern Song dynasty. This passage deals with Sicily and Mount Etna. It is the first mention of the island and the volcano in Chinese historical records.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
About the sale
THE BERNARD ROUSSEAU COLLECTION – DRAWINGS BY HOKUSAI, PAINTINGS FROM JAPAN AND CHINA
Auction location
Auction time
10/22/2026 at 3:30 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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