was a Japanese painter of the Nagasaki and Nanpin schools.

Originally from Edo

Edo

, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...

, he spent some time in Nagasaki

Nagasaki

is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Nagasaki was founded by the Portuguese in the second half of the 16th century on the site of a small fishing village, formerly part of Nishisonogi District...

, where he studied under the Chinese painter Song Ziyan, who was known as Sō Shigan in Japanese. The name Sō Shiseki is a pseudonym

Art-name

An art-name is a pseudonym, or penname, used by an East Asian artist, which they sometimes change. The word and the idea to use a pseudonym originated from China, then became popular in other East Asian countries ....

, derived from an imitation of his master's name.

Shiseki's bird and flower painting

Bird-and-flower painting

Bird-and-flower painting is a kind of Chinese painting named after its subject matter. Normally, most bird-and-flower paintings belong to the scholar-artist style of Chinese painting....

s and other works display the use of a combination of broad calligraphic brushstrokes for branches, tree trunks and rocks, ink wash and color for flower petals and leaves, and much finer brushstrokes for the fine details of feathers and flowers to produce a very detailed and lifelike, realistic depiction. Returning to Edo, Shiseki became a prominent representative and teacher of the Nagasaki school in that city, teaching Shiba Kōkan

Shiba Kokan

, born Suzuki Harushige , was a Japanese painter and printmaker of the Edo period, famous both for his Western-style yōga paintings, in imitation of Dutch oil painting styles, methods, and themes, which he painted as Kōkan, and his ukiyo-e prints, primarily forgeries of the works of Suzuki...

 among others. He was close with such rangaku

Rangaku

Rangaku is a body of knowledge developed by Japan through its contacts with the Dutch enclave of Dejima, which allowed Japan to keep abreast of Western technology and medicine in the period when the country was closed to foreigners, 1641–1853, because of the Tokugawa shogunate’s policy of national...

scholars as Hiraga Gennai

Hiraga Gennai

was an Edo period Japanese pharmacologist, student of Rangaku, physician, author, painter and inventor who is well known for his Erekiteru , Kandankei and Kakanpu...

 and Sugita Genpaku

Sugita Genpaku

was a Japanese scholar who was known for his translation of Kaitai Shinsho .Besides Kaitai Shinsho, he also authored Rangaku Kotohajime ....

, and expressed an interest in Western painting. He composed a number of books, and woodblock printed

Woodblock printing in Japan

Woodblock printing in Japan is a technique best known for its use in the ukiyo-e artistic genre; however, it was also used very widely for printing books in the same period. Woodblock printing had been used in China for centuries to print books, long before the advent of movable type, but was only...

volumes of his artworks were produced as well.