Yi Hai (, or Yi Fujiu (伊桴鳩), I Fukyū in
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
) was a
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
painter and
merchant who frequented the Japanese trading port of
Nagasaki
is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan.
It became the sole Nanban trade, port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hi ...
. His sobriquet was ''Fujiu''. He is said to have been a captain of a
junk trading ship that plied between
Ningpo and Nagasaki from 1726 to 1746.
Yi Hai is identified in the ''Encyclopedia of Chinese Artists'' as a native of
Wuxing, Zhejiang. Trade in
Japan at this time was restricted to the port of Nagasaki and Chinese merchants carried on their business in the Chinese Factory or Tojinyashiki (唐人屋敷). Van Gulick in his ''Chinese Pictorial Art'' suggested that although Yi Hai produced some "striking ink-landscapes" he also engaged in "some mild forms of
piracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
." Yi Hai's renown in Japan was to such an extent he was known as one of the "Four Great Masters From Abroad." In 1803, his works were printed with those of the master Ike-no-Taiga in ''Album of Paintings by Yi Fujiu and Ike Taiga''.
Although his works could be seen just as cold imitations of Chinese literati works, Yi Fujiu's style has no precedent in Japan, because it was different from the familiar ink traditions of Muromachi collections. His landscapes eventually reflect a mixed style, which made reference to several Chinese literati artists.
[Marco, Meccarelli. 2015.]
"Chinese Painters in Nagasaki: Style and Artistic Contaminatio during the Tokugawa Period (1603-1868)"
Ming Qing Studies 2015, Pages 175-236.
References
* Yu Lianhua, ''Encyclopedia of Chinese Artists'', Shanghai, 1980, p. 181.
* R.H. van Gulick, ''Chinese Pictorial Art'', Rome, 1958, p. 407.
* ''The Dictionary of Art'', vol. 17, Macmillan, 1996, p. 189.
Qing dynasty painters
Year of death unknown
People from Huzhou
Painters from Zhejiang
Year of birth unknown
{{China-painter-stub