Description: Rooster and hen Kachô-e. Original woodblock print, published around 1910. Signature: Chikuseki. Seal: Chikuseki. Press: Matsuki Heikichi (Daikokuya)? About a dozen woodblock prints in the square shikishiban format with depictions of birds and blossoms have been attributed to this artist. However, by the time they were printed, he had long since passed away. Preserved original drawings of his served as templates and, by means of wood block prints - probably by Daikokuya, were brought back into circulation a hundred years later. These woodblock-print reproductions are often offered online as works by Hirose Chikuseki. Though no such person ever existed and the name is a mere fata morgana, it was introduced into the conversation by someone and has now spread across the world. Nagamachi Chikusei was a painter who oriented his work towards "southern" or "literati painting" (nanga). The artists of this stylistic direction were highly educated amateurs who practiced an unacademic way of painting and belonged to the country's intellectual elite. Generally, in Japan, the term nanga - pictures of the (Chinese) southern school - is used to refer to images of this kind. Framed inside a gold painted frame with passepartout. Condition: Good general condition, minor staining Provenance: From an Austrian private collection, with old Galerie Zacke label from the early 1990s