KIKUCHI YÔSAI (1788–1878) Kakejiku in ink and light colours on silk, depicting a fox running through tall grass, looking back. Signed lower right, ‘Yôsai Rôjin’ (Old Yôsai) above a vase-shaped seal bearing the sigillary kanji for ‘Yôsai’. Inscription ‘Yôsai kitsune’ on the reverse (Fox by Yôsai). (Small spots, soiling). Japan, mid-19th century. A KAKEJIKU, INK AND COLOURS ON SILK DEPICTING A FOX, BY YÔSAI, JAPAN, MID-19TH CENTURY. DIM. 91 X 29.5 CM (35 13/16 X 11 5/8 IN.) About the artist: Yôsai developed an eclectic style after studying several traditional schools (Kanô, Tosa, Maruyama-Shijô), as well as Chinese painting and certain Western perspective techniques. However, he is best known for the *Zenken Kojitsu* (*Ancient Practices of the Sages of the Past*), a multi-volume illustrated history of Japan comprising over 500 portraits of historical and heroic figures, which served as an indispensable iconographic reference for the entire generation of artists that followed in the Meiji era. His works are held in several Western museums, in the United States and Europe.