Celebrated for his depictions of monkeys, Mori Sosen also excelled at capturing the character of other animals that were based on life studies in the Maruyama-shijô tradition of shasei. At the same time, Sosen was also clearly influenced by the technical precision of Nagasaki school painters such as Shen Nan’pin. Working in Osaka, he studied monkeys and other fauna in the wild for several years.

This painting is a precise, sensitive depiction of long-tailed tortoises, minogame, symbols of longevity and felicity according to Japanese legend. Said to live so long, that plants grow on their back making a long plumed tail. The artist’s remarkable fluid handling of the brush, in the Maruyama-shijo tradition, is readily evident.