National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

This pair of square plates was a collaboration by the two brothers Ogata Kōrin (1658–1716) and Ogata Kenzan (1663–1743). Formed in molds, they have upright rims and chamfered edges around the base. After being covered with white slip, the figures and inscriptions were hand-painted in underglaze iron oxide, with painted vermillion seals. The surfaces were then entirely coated with a transparent glaze. Each plate features a decorative border around its raised sides, surrounding a central figure drawing with inscriptions and signatures on either side.

On the Hanshan plate, the upper right corner contains an inscription reading “I dwell in the mountains where no one knows / Ever silent amidst the white clouds / By Kenzan.” It has two red square seals, one with red characters (“Shōko”) and one with white characters (“Tōin”). In the lower left corner, it is inscribed “Painted by Seisei Kōrin.”

The Shide plate bears an inscription in the upper left reading, “From ancient times, this is Shide, not a coincidence / Unrelated to others, / Hanshan is my brother, our hearts alike / Who could follow worldly ways / If asked about our ages / How many times has the Yellow River turned clear? / By Kenzan.” It is accompanied by a handpainted red square seal of “Shōko” and an inscription in the lower right, “Painted by Jakumyō Kōrin.”

At the beginning of each poem, there is an elongated oval red seal reading “Kenzan.” On both plates, the interiors of the low-raised sides, delineated by lines above and below, are decorated with a pattern of cloud arabesques, while the exteriors of each side have a five-petaled flower in a central cartouche, flanked by cloud arabesques.

While these two plates have been treated as a pair, it is unclear whether they were originally intended as such.

Research on collaborations between Kōrin and Kenzan, based on signatures, seals, and writing styles, indicates that these plates were produced after 1709, the year Kōrin returned to Kyoto from Edo, within the roughly seven year window until his death in 1716.