“Flowers and Birds”

Ōnishi Keisai

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Artist Name
Ōnishi Keisai
Title
“Flowers and Birds”
Dimensions
painting：114.0×49.3㎝
full length：200.5×63.1㎝
Medium
Ink on Silk
Description
Three small birds are depicted amid brilliantly blooming flowers that fill the entire composition. This is a *Flowers and Birds* painting by Ōnishi Keisai. In the foreground, a long-tailed bird perches atop a fantastically shaped rock, rendered in the realistic manner of the Nanpin school. Above it, two wagtails are placed, creating a layered composition that enhances both liveliness and depth.

Ōnishi Keisai (1773–1829) was a painter of the late Edo period and a retainer of the Nakatsu domain in Buzen Province. Born in Edo, his personal name was Makoto (also recorded as Hiro), and his courtesy name was Shukumei (or Kikkyō). He used several art names, including Keisai, Yūkei, Shochi Dōjin, Issō Enkaku, and Saiseiō; his common name was Mataichi. The Ōnishi family had long served the Nakatsu domain, and Keisai himself attended the domain lord Okudaira Masataka as an Edo-based retainer.

In painting, he initially favored the style of Shen Nanpin and studied under Sō Shiseki, Shizan (father and son), and their descendant Sō Shikō. He later entered the Shazandō studio of Tani Bunchō. Having mastered the techniques of Shen Nanpin and other Ming–Qing painters, he became especially accomplished in paintings of flowers and bird-and-flower subjects.

Although it is uncertain whether Keisai formally held the position of official painter to the Nakatsu domain, he frequently traveled to Nakatsu on domain orders and left behind numerous works there. Among his pupils were Okamoto Shūki and Yajima Gunpō.

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