Kozuka with Chinese Lion

Description This lion is called a Chinese lion ("shishi") because it derives from images of lions imported to Japan from China. Lions were not native to Japan, so artists were not able to draw them from life. The artist of the kozuka signed it on the reverse.

Provenance Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions [Signature] On kozuka: 宗珉; [Translation] Sômin

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters