Vintage Japanese Zenga Scroll Three Lucky Gods Comic Sake Painting

The Verse
三酒を一酒にして大酒... ("Sanzake wo isshoku ni shite ōzake...") — "Turning three cups of sake into one, into a great toast..." Written with a light, comic touch, the verse plays on the idea of combining separate, modest pleasures into one big, shared celebration — turning restraint into joyful excess among good company and benevolent gods, in the gently irreverent spirit characteristic of Zenga (禅画, Zen painting).

The Painting: Three Lucky Gods
Rendered in loose, economical brushstrokes, three of Japan's Seven Lucky Gods (七福神, Shichifukujin) appear together in a single playful composition:

• Ebisu (恵比寿), at right, holding a fishing rod and a red sea bream (tai) — a symbol of luck and unexpected windfall.
• Jurōjin or Fukurokuju (寿老人/福禄寿), at center, recognizable by his elongated head and walking staff — a symbol of health and long life.
• Daikokuten (大黒天), at left, seated beside his sack of rice or coins — a symbol of abundance and prosperity.

Together, the three gods form an informal, good-humored blessing for wealth, longevity, and happiness all at once — a far more casual and comic treatment than the gods typically receive in formal painting, very much in keeping with the loose, humanizing spirit of Zenga.

Seals
An opening seal (封印, hōin) appears in the upper right, with two additional square red seals in the lower left recording the artist-calligrapher's name and art-name, authenticating the work.

Condition & Presentation
Ink on paper, mounted with a striking navy silk panel above and below the central painting, set within warm tan silk-brocade borders.