vintage japanese shikishi print : cricket cage

Cricket song has long been prized in Chinese and Japanese cultures, and the miniature musicians were wildly popular as pets in the 18th and 19th centuries, kept in tiny houses as depicted here by Omoda Seiju (1891-1933).

Yokoyama Taikan was a leading figure in the early twentieth century Japanese art world, and this print is from a collection of reproductions of original Japanese artworks presented to him for his 60th birthday, in 1928. What an incredible gift!

Printed on shikishi board - a traditional Japanese art material with subtle flecking and a bevelled edge in gold - these works may be framed or propped, and look spectacular in pairs or as a triptych.