Description KAMATA GANSEN: A RARE SET OF FOUR FINE JAPANESE SILK PAINTINGS FROM AN ALBUMBy Kamata Gansen (born 1844), signed Gansen partly with the addition of Naniwa Kamata, sealed Gansen and Kamata hitsuJapan, late 19th centuryDepicting three different scenes with monkeys, either playing on a gnarled branch, sitting on a rock, or relaxing on the grass. The fourth painting mounted to the back of the painting with three monkeys next to a grasshopper, depicting a tanuki in a rocky landscape. Ink and color on silk. Mounted on cardboard with gold foil borders.SIZE between 15.7 x 18.3 and 16.6 x 21.8 cm (image); 19.4 x 24.2 cm (incl. mounting)Condition: Good condition, slight browning, little staining, few creases, loose threads, and dark spots.Provenance: East German private collection, mostly assembled in the 1970s and 1980s.Gansen learned painting from his father Gansho (1798-1859) who studied under Mori Sosen (1747-1821), the latter being particularly renowned for his paintings of monkeys.Literature comparison: Compare a related silk painting by Kamata Gansen, in the collection of the RISD Museum with the object number 15.144.Auction comparison:Compare a closely related pair of hanging scrolls by Kamata Gansen, with monkey motif, also dated to the late 19th century, at Bonhams, Fine Japanese and Korean Art, 20 March 2019, New York, lot 366 (sold for 1,912 USD).