A depiction of the Chinese jester Dongfang Shuo東方朔 (c. 160 – c. 93 BCE) by another Japanese artist, Matsumura Goshun (1752-1811). Curiously, it is a near contemporary of a similar painting by Torei Hijikata (1741-1807).
Dongfang Shuo was a multi-faceted character, part jester, part courtier and sometime Daoist immortal. We’re building a mighty dossier on his outrageous antics.
As both these depictions were done nearly 2,000 years after he lived, they aren’t strictly speaking ‘portraits’.
Credit: Portrait of Dongfang Shuo (Tung-fang Shou) (c. 1790), hanging scroll, ink and light color on paper; Brooklyn Museum, public domain
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