Description
It is the third century BC and the noble strategist Zhang Liang (張良) receives a bamboo scroll from an old man as a reward for helping him wear his shoes. Legend has it that the old man was “the yellow rock wise man” Huang Shigong (黃石公) and that the scroll contained the famous treatise on the art of war by Taigong (太公兵法), one of the six secret teachings on civil and military strategy.
The precious triptych presented here is titled “Depiction of Zhang Liang Receiving the Treatise on War” (張良兵書ヲ授ル図) and is taken from the series “Tales on the War Between the Han and Chu Dynasties” (漢楚軍談之内) made in 1892 by the artist Ogata Gekko (尾形月耕) in collaboration with the publisher Matsuno Yonejiro (松野米次郎).
The work, despite the right signs of aging including the showy stain on the left table, is in good general condition thanks also to an effective relining carried out on the back of the three prints with another sheet of Japanese washi paper (和紙).
