Two Birds on a Nandine Bush | Oda Kaisen 小田海僊 | 1785-1863

Paintings by Oda Kaisen can be found in many Asian art collections in Japan and overseas. He was a student of Maruyama Ōkyō and later of his student Goshun, but was primarily interested in early Chinese painting and also studied Confucianism. Chinese influences can be felt in many of his paintings. This painting is somewhat un-Japanese, at most, in its spatial layout – classically trained painters of the Shijō school, to which he owes his training as a student of Goshun, would probably work with more empty spaces when depicting this subject.

The painting is very virtuosic. The birds are captured with extraordinary vividness in their eagerness to peck at the nandina berries. It's also clever to have both birds perched on the same branch, causing the branch to curve and thus fit the picture format... The picture exudes an enchanting lightness. With a beautiful, intact old mount, it appears very elegant.

The signature appears to be flawless; the stamp could not be verified—Kaisen used a large number of stamps, which increases the chance of a single stamp not being found in any documentation.