Kenneth Spencer Research Library Archival Collections

Taniguchi Gessō (1774-1865), a Japanese artist during the Edo period, was born in Mie prefecture, Japan. He studied painting under Tanke Gessen (丹家月僊). He depicted landscapes, portraits, and flowers and birds (Kachō-ga) in his paintings. This scroll, the Depiction of the Nine Phases, which has a Buddhist theme, shows the nine stages of decomposition of the human body after death.