An amateur vase pinch formed from rough clay and decorated with Hotei, the god of fortune, leaning against his sack of treasure opposite a brief verse by Tomioka Tessai enclosed in an old wooden box titled Tessai Sensei Tsubo, Kabin. It comese with a Fukusa also hand painted by the legendary literatus. The vase is 16 x 18 x 14.5 cm (6-1/2 x 7 x 6 inches) and is in excellent condition. The fukusa is silk hand painted with the god of longevity, a bat and a deer signed by Tomioka Tessai and dated the 12th month in Taisho gannen (1912). It is 33. X 36 cm (13 x 14 inches) and is in excellent condition.
Tomioka Tessai (1837-1924) was a scholar artist trained from age seven in the traditional Confucian manner. After the death of his father he was apprenticed to a Shinto shrine, and later was forced to escape the capitol to Kyushu to avoid arrest for anti-governmental actions he had taken on part of the Imperial cause. Here he began serious study of Literati painting and furthered his scholarly research. Upon returning to Kyoto he was befriended by and moved to work under Otagaki Rengetsu, from whom he was heavily influenced. He helped to establish the Nihon Nanga-In and held a number of important positions, culminating in being appointed the official painter of the Emperor and a member of the Imperial Art Academy; the highest honor in Japanese Art circles. He is represented in innumerable important collections. Information on this important person is readily available, for more see Scholar Painters of Japan by Cahill (1972), Roberts Dictionary, or a quick internet search will find plenty of reading. He is held in the Tokyo National Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Kyoto, V&A etc
