Queen Mother of the West (Seiōbo)

Seiōbo (Chinese: Xiwangmu) was a female immortal whose palace, according to Daoist legends, was in the Kunlun Mountains of western China. In its gardens grew the peach trees whose fruits, ripening only once every three thousand years, conferred immortality upon the eater. Here, Rosetsu has painted Seiōbo, her gown blowing in the wind, gazing down at the peach by her feet. The subject was portrayed frequently by Maruyama Ōkyo and by two of his most famous students, Rosetsu and Ganku. This example is signed “Rosetsu sha,” with two intaglio seals “Chō Gyo” and “Hyōkei,” indicating that the work dates to the 1790s.

Among Ōkyo’s many disciples, Rosetsu is considered to be the most accomplished. He was already listed as a prominent painter in the 1768 publication Notables of the Heian Capital (Heian jinbutsushi), suggesting that well before this handscroll was created he had achieved independence from his painting master.

To later generations of scholars, Rosetsu came to be considered an “eccentric” painter because his later artistic style and personality did not conform to conventional expectations of an Edo painter.