Catalog: Archives: Regional Art: Asian (588)

A very unusual Toyoraku Usubata vase covered outside in black lacquer decorated with geometric gold maki-e designs, the inside nearly swamped by organic green flowing to the center. It comes enclosed in the original somewhat dilapidated wooden box signed: The 75 year old man Toyosuke. This appears to be the signature of the third generation, and so would date from 1854, only a few years prior to the death of the fourth generation who began the technique of lacquering pots. It is 25.5 cm (10 inches) diameter at the top, and stands21 cm (8-1/4 inches) tall, in overall excellent condition. Lacquer has been re-applied to the foot ring and there is a small loss in the bulbous center of the vase.
The Toyoraku tradition began in the mid 1700s, however it was the fourth generation head of the household (Toyosuke IV 1813~1858) who moved the kiln to Kamimaezu in Nagoya and began applying lacquer and Maki-e to the works. He was succeeded by his son, Toyosuke V (d. 1885) who passed the kiln to his own son Toyosuke VI, (d. 1917), who was highly lauded in his lifetime and made pottery on order of the Meiji emperor, his pieces being selected for international exhibition. The family lineage ended in the Taisho period.

A bronze dragon water spout dating from the late Edo or early Meiji period (mid to later 19th century) in an unusual full body configuration. Most spouts appear climbing over the edge of a basin, and thus only the front of the dragon need be cast. This however writhes across the edge of the basin, the entire body exposed. A pipe extending from the stomach allows the water to be attached. It is 29-1/2 x 11 x 10 inches (75 x 28 x 25 cm). One horn has been repaired and there is some damage where the belly would have touched the stone surface of the water pool typical of age. Dragons are not only the gods of water, therefore a protective deity, but also are considered guardians of Buddhist doctrine, and, like the Buddha mind, are rarely seen in full form.

Ivy in colored maki-e lacquer drapes over the ro-iro polished black of this museum quality Tankei oil lantern dating from the 19th century complete with oil container, with both ceramic and lacquered-brass oil dishes; enclosed in the original wooden storage box. It is 22 x 18 x 54 cm (8-1/2 x 7 x 21 inches) and is in overall fine condition, with minor wear typical of age and use.
Historically slow burning rapeseed or fish oil would have been used, the long wicks burning on the dish draped over the notch at the top of the back. The orange dish would have been set underneath on the compartment lid to catch soot and drippings.
On the box is written (inside) Suki-e Tankei, Togidashi Maki-e Iwata (name illegible)ei saku (Ivy Decorated Oil Lamp, Togidashi Maki-e made by Iwata (illegible)) followed by the signature Iwata Takumi at the bottom. Outside, is written the same thing (sans signature). The paper up top reads Jidai Maki-e Tankei (Antique Makie Lantern), below is an inventory number (Andon Niban) Koko Saku Tankei. Like all works of art in Japan, several people would have been involved in the production of this piece, a Sashimono-shi who built the wood parts, the lacquer artist, the metal artist and the potter. In this case the pottery bears the stamp of the Raku family, traditional potters in Kyoto.

A rare set of five tiny Gosu cups for drinking Gyokuro steaped tea from the Shidehara kiln of Sanda in Hyogo prefecture dating from mid to later 19th century (Late Edo to Meiji). Fish circle the cups as they swim among water plants. Each cup is 2 inches (5 cm) diameter and in great condition.
Shidehara was a kiln established in the Sanda district of Hyogo prefecture in the mid 18th century. They created works based on continental styles of Gosu, Sometsuke, aka-e and later celadon. It is from this kiln that Sanda-yaki was born, to become a major production area for celadons and other pottery styles starting in the late 18th century.

A lovely late Edo to early Meiji period square footed dish decorated with autumn grass and crosshatching in underglaze iron with a charming lacquer repair in one corner featuring a crescent moon expertly rendered. The dish has been formed on a cloth covered pattern; impressions remain visible in the surface through blanks in the thick white glaze. It was made with fluted corners, with 4 pressed on loop feet. The dish was dipped in glaze from one side, then held on edge, allowing the glaze to run in several thick streamlets across the center, finger marks of the artist as he held the dish after dipping still visible as blanks in the white. A very attractive repair has been performed to one corner using three shades of lacquer, creating a golden moon partially obscured but still visible through silver clouds. The piece comes enclosed in an old wooden box, and measures 8 by 10 inches (21 x 25.5 cm).

A 19th century (early Meiji) period Buddhist image we believe to be a thousand armed version of Yakushi Nyorai accompanied by two sages carved entirely of fragrant sandalwood on a gilded wooden base. The group is in total 15-1/2 inches (39 cm) tall, the image alone 5-1/2 inches (14 cm) tall. Both sages are missing an arm, as well as one lotus blossom rising from the wave patterned base. The holy figure itself also once had a greater number of arms, which have been lost over the last 150 years.

A radical image by the outlandish Doi Goga featuring a black devil and its child. The child reaches up to the monster, while the monster seems to be giving him a raspberry, his toungue flailing in the air. Ink on paper, it has been completely restored in beige cloth border with bone rollers reflecting the original mounting. The scroll is 42 x 181 cm (16-1/2 x 71-1/4 inches) ad is in excellent condition. Doi Goga (1818-1880) was a Confucian scholar of the late Edo to Meiji periods. He was born the son of a doctor serving the lords of Ise (modern Mie prefecture), home of the gods and Ise Shrine. A child prodigy, he studied under Ishikawa Chikugai and Saito Setsudo. The early death of his father saw him succeed the family head at the age of 12. He would serve later as a teacher in the official government school. He held strong opinions and was very critical of the hypocrisy and corruption he saw in military government and in Confucianism itself. His works began to see the light of day in the early Meiji period, however due to their inflammatory nature, much was left unpublished until after his death. Known for paintings of bamboo and landscapes, his Dojin figures are rare and highly sought.

A 19th century (Edo to Meiji periods) gilded bronze branch bearing three golden fruits, each of which opens to reveal a small compartment. It is 19 cm (7-1/2 inches) long, 6 cm (2-1/2 inches) tall and comes enclosed in an age darkened kiri-wood box. Certainly of Buddhist connotations, it likely held some small sweets or incense.

A bakumatsu era (mid 19th century) Shishi Koro of dark red clay covered in a rich green glaze from the Banko kilns in Mie. It is 14 x 24 x 8 cm (9 x 5-1/2 x 3 inches) and is in fine condition but for one clawed toe which has been chipped. This squat style of facial expression was popular from the declining years of the Edo period into the early Meiji, and fits the date of this piece perfectly.

A one of a kind Edo period Buddhist censer of wood carved in the shape of a Baku, a mythical creature with the ability to eat nightmares, a brass basin inserted into the back. It is 23 x 16.5 x 27 cm (9 x 6-1/2 x 10-1/2 inches) and in fine condition. There is a strip of wood embedded in the form filling a crack in the wood.
The traditional Japanese nightmare-devouring baku originates in Chinese folklore and was familiar in Japan as early as the Muromachi period (14th–15th century). An early 17th-century Japanese manuscript, the Sankai Ibutsu, describes the baku as a shy, mythical chimera with the trunk and tusks of an elephant, the ears of a rhinoceros, the tail of a cow, the body of a bear and the paws of a tiger, which protected against pestilence and evil. Writing in the Meiji period, Lafcadio Hearn (1902) described a baku with very similar attributes that was also able to devour nightmares.

A stunning box covered entirely in mother of pearl upon which is the crescent moon in lead under maki-e gold florals. Inside Rimpa style dear rest in lead and gold maki-e on a ground of red-tinted Nashiji. The box is in excellent condition, likely dating from the mid 19th century. It measures 22 x 24.5 x 5 cm (8-1/2 x 9-1/2 x 2 inches).

Feeling frisky that day, perhaps a wry self portrait by this most famous of Nuns, Otagaki Rengetsu with a poem brushed above in her unique script.
Hito hakaru The trickster
Sagano no harano In the Fields of Sagano
Yufumagure At Twilight
Onoka obana ya Tail in the Pampas grass
Sode to misuran Will it seem a sleeve
There is something very human about this depiction, perhaps the nose…The Hakuzosu (Fox spirit) is a popular theme surrounding the superstition that foxes transform themselves into human form to bewitch the unwary, particularly at twilight. Perhaps the final reference to a sleeve is that of the beguiler, the sleeve of a kimono draped for the seduction of a passing man. Performed with ink on paper in a silk border, the scroll is 10-1/4 x 65-1/2 inches (26 x 166.5 cm) and in overall fine condition. The word obana, written with characters meaning "tail-flower," is classic poetic diction for susuki autumn grass signifying Sagano, a place name often used in poetry as a pun on saga, "one's nature." For a similar image with this poem see the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York (Gift of Donald Keene).
Much has been written about the life and work of poet/artist Otagaki Rengetsu. Born into a samurai family, she was adopted into the Otagaki family soon after birth, and served as a lady in waiting in Kameoka Castle in her formative years, where she received an education worthy of a Lady of means. Reputed to be incredibly beautiful, she was married and bore three children; however her husband and all children died before she was twenty. Remarried she bore another daughter, however that child too perished and her husband died while she was just 32. Inconsolable, she cut off her hair to join the nunnery at Chion-in Temple, where she renounced the world and received the name Rengetsu (Lotus Moon). However this was not the end, but only the beginning of a career as artist and poet which would propel her to the top of the 19th century Japan literati art world.

Pure elegance and simplicity of form by Komazawa Risai enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Mage-Kensui (Round Spent Water Container). It is lacquered outside is tame-nuri opaque wine-red, inside is polished ro-iro black decorated with gold reeds overlapping from all directions. It is 16 cm (6-1/2 inches) diameter, 7 cm (2-3/4 inches) tall and in excellent condition. It is made by Komazawa Risai; head of one of the ten crafts families of the three Senke tea schools adhering to the way of tea as taught by Sen No Rikkyu in the 16th century. The bowl is made of two pieces, the base a thin flat plank cut round, then the vertical is bent around and secured together with binding, the whole then covered in lacquer. The shape is that of a simple Oke or shallow bucket, however the artist has made it so much more than that. This is the epitome of the Japanese Tea Aesthetic.
Taking tea has long spread from its original home of Asia to the rest of the world, spawning in the process distinct and varied customs that deeply mirror the values of the culture that creates them. Japan's history of tea drinking is no different, becoming a focal point for the arts and enlightenment to the point where it became the unique ceremony we now know as chanoyu or the Way of Tea. The name can actually be something of a misnomer to the uninitiated, as although there are similarities in form and structure, there is no singular tea ceremony, and ceremonies can be very varied dependent on season, setting and school, yielding in the process a vast culture that can take a lifetime to become truly aquatinted with. Sen no Rikyu, born in 1522 is largely credited with instilling the quintessentially Japanese values into the custom and codifying the practice into a “Way”. To this very day the three houses of Omotesenke, Urasenke, and Mushakojisenke continue his tradition and teachings every time they perform the tea ceremony, and yet this is no fixed form, but an enduring process of gradual evolution and innovation that continues to reflect Japan beyond the walls of the chashitsu, tea room. In the case of the three Senke houses under Sen no Rikyu's teachings, in their centuries of history we find that their ceremonial tools are all produced by the same ten families, and ever since Mitsukoshi held an exhibition of their works in 1915 the name "Senke Jushoku", or the "Ten Designated Craftsmen of Senke", has entered common usage to describe this small collection of artisans who hold within their lineage the very DNA of the aesthetics of the tea ceremony.
The ten families are: Nakagawa Joeki (metalworker), Okumura Kichibei (scroll mounting maker), Kuroda Shogen (bamboo craftsman and ladle maker), Tsuchida Yuko (pouch maker), Eiraku Zengoro (brazier maker and potter), Raku Kichizaemon (tea bowl maker), Nakamura Sotetsu (lacquerer), Onishi Seiuemon (kettle maker), Hiki Ikkan (papier mache style lacquerer) and Komazawa Risai (woodworker).
The lineage of the Komazawa family began with the first generation Sogen in the later 17th century. The second generation headmaster, Sokei, was recognized by the Sen Tea houses, however, it was after the fourth generation, Risai, that they became more deeply involved in the House of Sen. He established a warm friendship with Kakukakusai, the sixth generation of Omote, and was designated as a regular joiner for tea ceremony and given the name of 'Risai'. The seventh Risai, who worked vigorously in the late Edo period and was also an excellent lacquerer as well as a joiner, and brought great fortune with his innovation and re-visioning of the tea ceremony and its utensils in a modernizing world. After the seventh generation, however, one after another the heads of the family died young. The thirteenth Risai lived up to seventy, but suffered the misfortune of losing his son who was born in his later years. After the death of the thirteenth generation, his wife Namie deicided to become the fourteenth Risai and have her daughter Chiyoko succeed her in the future, but the daughter died young in 1961, and she also died in 1977, leaving the position vacant to this day.

A collection of six unique antique sake cups from various regions in Japan, each enclosed in an old wooden box.
1. A rice bale shaped Kosobe yaki bowl in thin bluish-white glaze stamped on the base, probably second or third generation (see below).
2. A Soma Yaki small bowl of pinched form with speckled green glaze from Fukushima. Soma Yaki has a four-hundred-year history.
3. A very rare Etchu Kosugi Yaki wangata cup in smooth blue green glaze with a hint of yellow at the rim.
4. Another very rare Garyuzan-yaki cup incised with white slip in basket style by Yokohagi Ikko (1850-1924) in a signed box.
5. A later Edo Korean style piece with gold repairs by Mizukoshi Yosobei bearing his five-sided seal impressed into the base (the kiln closed in 1860).
And last an anonymous celadon piece whose title I cannot read (appears to be Kyudai seiji).
The Kosobe kiln was established in Takatsuki, along the route between Osaka and Kyoto by Igarashi Shinbei sometime around 1790, The first generation (1750-1829) was known for Raku wares, Tea Utensils and Utsushi wares among more common household items. The second generation (Shinzo, 1791-1851) is remembered for Takatori, Karatsu, Korai and other continental styles. Shingoro, the third-generation head of the family (1833-1882) continued in that line, but secured a route to use Shigaraki clay and blended that with his local clays. He was known for Mishima and E-gorai styles. Into the Meiji period, the 4th generation head Yasojiro (1851-1918) saw the kiln close due to health problems of his successor Shinbei V, (Eitaro) in the late Meiji or early Taisho period.

Waves thrash about in a playful frenzy below the calm watchful eye of a full moon partly blanketed by dark clouds in this extraordinary painting signed Kagyo dating from the later 19th century. It is bordered in ivory colored brocade embellished with clouds extended in golden brown silk and features ivory rollers. The scroll is 21-1/2 by 79 inches 855 x 200 cm) and, aside from minor bands of yellowing of the silk expected of age, is in fine condition. It comes enclosed in a period wooden box.

An 18th-early 19th century Literati landscape featuring a scholars gathering in a forest of pines on one side, a pair of boats pulling up to a hermitage on the other. These are published in the book Jidai Byobu Shuei (pre-restoration, pages 76 and 77). They have been completely restored maintaining the original cloth border and are in superb condition. Each screen measures 70-1/2 x 150-1/2 inches (179 x 382 cm).
So Gessen (1741-1809) was an artist initially trained in Edo under Sakurai Sekkan, and later in Kyoto under Maruyama Okyo. A known associate of Yosa Buson, he was a prominent figure in the literati scene of that time. He lived a quiet life in his later years at Jakushoji Temple in Ise and his style was helped to shape the Literati style of the 19th century. The second stamp bears the temple name, Jakusho shuujin A similar composition is held in the Mie Prefectural Museum.

A beautiful Meiji period basin of light weight metal gilded with genuine gold leaf with each individual petal rising to form the fluted rim. Much worn from handling, the bowl measures 25 cm (10 inches) diameter and is 12 cm (5 inches) tall.

A lacquered and iron bound round lidded box called a kubi-oke made to carry the head of a man taken in battle or that of a man after committing ritual suicide for offering to the lord. It is 13 inches (33 cm) diameter, 11-1/2 inches (29 cm) tall with large handles from which it could be carried on a pole. There is mouse damage on one part of the bottom, but has not eaten through to the inside.