Help with Japanese Translation / painting

Bramblefind · Jan 17, 2012

I was visiting my Mother today and she asked if I could get some information about this painting. Frame is about 13.5" x 11". On the back is a sticker for "Annesley and Co. Art Galleries Estb. 1802 Albany, N.Y." From what I found quickly they were not in business after 1944.

Thank you!

Breezie · Jan 17, 2012

Hey Bramble, Nice painting; sorry I can't help with the translation. Here's some info I found on the company:

Annesley and Co. of Albany was founded in1802 by Lawson Annesley, a native
of Bordentown, New Jersey. Lawson, along with his younger brother William, was a gilder specializing in looking glasses and picture frames. The shop was, as of 1813, located at 16 Stueben Street. Later they relocated to 294 North Market Street. In 1823they moved again just down the street to a larger location at 325-327 North Market Street. In the following decade, Annesley and Co. relocated to 309-311 N. Market Street
and began to advertise itself first as a looking glass store and then as a looking glass warehouse. During the 1840’s, Annesley and Co. moved twice. Their first move of the decade took them to 46 Broadway in 1841 and their second, in 1846, took them to 504 Broadway.
The company’s first major change came in 1856 when Lawson Annesley took on Marshall K. Williamson as a partner. The company name was changed to Annesley and Williamson. It was also the first year that the Annesleys advertised in the Albany Directories. Annesley and Williamson were billed as manufacturers and dealers of looking glasses as well as sellers of portraits, picture frames, engravings and artists’
materials. They were also listed as a Picture Gallery. In the following year, Lawson entered into a partnership with B.H. Veeder and Company. Veeder owned a goldbeating company, which he had founded two years earlier, located at 45 Hudson Street. Also in
1857, Issac and Richard, Lawson’s sons, were brought into the family business as clerks. The company’s advertisement in the Albany Directory of that year showed that the business had expanded to include not only frames, looking glasses and artists’ materials but also paintings and engravings from America and abroad. It was around this time that the Annesley’s could start being a described as a place where artists and people interested in art could meet informally.

Here's the website for the 'rest of the story.'
http://www.albanyinstitute.org/collections/FindingAids/Annesley&co. HP 81-05.pdf

Breezie

Bramblefind · Jan 18, 2012

Thanks much for the reply Breezie

I sometimes forget how old a city Albany is!

I think I will need to post this painting on an Art message board for the possibility of getting any specific info about it.

rginn · Jan 30, 2012

Sorry to take so long, bramblefind. We're an international community up here, and I finally got my grandson's friend over here to look at this. He is Jian Yuan Lee, from Beijing, China. He says the writing is Chinese. The first symbol is 'top of the mountain'. The second one is 'moon', but he doesn't know why. (we can't see a moon in the painting) The last two in orange are stamps like a library would use to show it belongs to them. It didn't really look Japanese to me either, but I will have Yuya Kawanisha, who is apparently from a cave in Japan take a look, when he shows up.

Bramblefind · Jan 30, 2012

RGINN said:
Sorry to take so long, bramblefind. We're an international community up here, and I finally got my grandson's friend over here to look at this. He is Jian Yuan Lee, from Beijing, China. He says the writing is Chinese. The first symbol is 'top of the mountain'. The second one is 'moon', but he doesn't know why. (we can't see a moon in the painting) The last two in orange are stamps like a library would use to show it belongs to them. It didn't really look Japanese to me either, but I will have Yuya Kawanisha, who is apparently from a cave in Japan take a look, when he shows up.

Thank you very much for this! And many thanks to Jian Yuan Lee! I apologize for my error in calling it Japanese - I couldn't get it out of my head that it had to be depicting Mount Fuji.

Any further info would be very much appreciated as well

Thanks again!

Dano Sverige · Jan 31, 2012

Could be the mountains nickname - "Mountain of / to the moon"?

DCMatt · Jan 31, 2012

I'll bet money that the painting is Mt. Fuji in Japan.

Japanese kanji characters are the same as Chinese in many cases. (That's where the Japanese got them from.)

I will agree that the first character means "mountain peak" and the second means "moon" or "month".

The red squares are the signature stamps called hanko.

DCMatt

rginn · Jan 31, 2012

I'll agree with that DCMatt. Lee thought the scene was Japanese, but the writing was Chinese. The red stamps too, which Lee tried to explain to me. When Yuya shows up I'll have him look it over.

rginn · Feb 5, 2012

Yuya looked this over finally. He believes it to be a depiction of Japanese scenery, and a fair representation of Mt. Fuji. He thinks the writing has some Japanese characteristics, but can't read it. Who would have thought that two native 'experts' would disagree so much? (that would never happen in real life) English is a second language for both these guys, and they can both read and write in their native languages. They told me that writing will vary from person to person, and it changes over time, and may vary from area to area in the country. They also say there is some 'borrowing' going on in the writing of each country from the other. They both agree 'IT'S NOT KOREAN!!'. (Coulda fooled me.) Thought this would be an open and shut deal, but not the case. Hope we shed a little light or pointed a direction on the subject.