The Daoist Immortal Liu Hai and Peonies

Liu Hai, or Liu Haichan, the Daoist immortal famed for his ability to command toads, appears here as an eccentric figure with disheveled hair and torn robes that reveal his belly, his body curved as he watches a dancing three-legged toad. Rather than presenting a fully composed auspicious tableau, the painter isolates individual motifs and surrounds them with expressive ink washes. At left, sweeping curved brushstrokes suggest gentle spring rain falling over leaves and peonies, whose translucent colors enliven their delicate petals. At right, morning mist envelops a cluster of grafted peonies.

Sō Shiseki traveled to Nagasaki at the age of forty, where he studied with Yū Hi and Song Ziyan (Sō Shigan), both students of the Chinese painter Shen Nanping. He later returned to Edo with a strong grounding in continental naturalism. His ability to reinterpret traditional Chinese subjects in distinctive styles, as seen here in this classic theme celebrating auspicious immortality, earned him wide admiration among Edo painters. The lighter, more transparent coloration seen in the flowers reflects Shiseki’s style of the last decade of his life.