Property from the collection of Drs. Edmund and Julie Lewis SHIBATA ZESHIN (1807-1891)Cormorant Fishing Meiji era (1868-1912), circa 1880 Hanging scroll, painted in ink and colors on silk, depicting in the foreground two cormorant fishermen and their assistant, night fishing with two cormorants, in a boat from which a basket of flaming charcoal hangs from a pole, casting light over the water, one playing out the thin ropes attached to the birds as they set about their task, the other rowing, set against the backdrop of a dramatic waterfall, with the water cascading down to the bottom, signed Zeshin and sealed Shin 49 x 19 7/8in (124.5 x 50.5cm) Exhibited and Published Takahashi Setsuro Gallery in Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, "Shibata Zeshin, From Tradition to Innovation", exhibition catalogue, Aichi, 2011, p.23, no. 14. Provenance , London, May 17, 2012, lot 241