Catalog: Archives: Regional Art: Asian (611)

Not quite the Easter Bunny, but perhaps close to an Easter Egg, the design on this vase is both classical and modern, reminiscent of Kenzan and his use of patterns and colors, surmounted by a sometsuke underglaze blue dragon among roiling cobalt clouds. The pot dates from the late 19th to early 20th century, classic Meiji period but for the unusually bright and cheerful rows of yellow, blue and green florals on red. The dragon blends with the clouds, with a single gold line delineating his body, and red flame whirling off from his legs. It is 11 inches (28 cm) tall, 9 inches (23 cm) diameter and in excellent condition.

A male peacock struts proudly before a gorgeous plume of color on this mid 20th century hand painted screen signed and stamped Yushin. The colors are slightly muted, in a typical Japanese way, the background awash in mottled silver-gray, presenting the brilliant greens and blues of the birds fabulous attraction. It is bordered in a wooden frame covered in Negoro lacquer, unusual green over red, matching the painting perfectly. Each panel measures 32 inches by five feet (82 x 152.5 cm) and is in excellent condition, even retaining the original backing cloth.

A Gyokusendo hand formed copper vase decorated with dragonflies enclosed in the original signed wooden box dating from the 1950s. It is 8 inches (20 cm) tall, 9 inches (22 cm) diameter and in excellent condition.

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.

Egrets in flight decorate the art-deco influenced shape of this faceted hanging vase by Nakamura Suiko enclosed in the original signed wooden box. According to the inside of the box, this was one of three made for submission to the 5th Nihon Bijutsu Tenrankai (Nitten, 1949). An entry in the catalog for that year states that Nakamura Suiko of Ishikawa prefecture exhibited a “Tri faceted Porcelain Hanging Vase Decorated with Egrets”. It is roughly 9 x 10 x 9 inches (23 x 25 x 23 cm) and is in excellent condition, retaining the original silk hanging chords.

A spectacular orb hearkening to the Sputnick era created by Hasegawa Isamu and exhibited at the 11th Nitten in 1955, enclosed in the original signed wooden box. The circular form is cleft with two equal but opposite dimples, offering both a futuristic and archaic dimension. It is 38 cm (15 inches) Diameter and in excellent condition.
Due to size the cost of shipping will be accrued separately.
Hasegawa Isamu was born in 1925 in Kyoto, son of famed porcelain artist Hasegawa Hakuho. He studied under both his father and Kusube Yaichi from whom he may have received his propensity for form. He was first accepted into the Nitten in 1953, and exhibited there consistently garnering several awards. He received the Kyoto Shinbun Prize among others at the Kofukai Ten, and works were purchased by the Ministry of Foreign affairs as gifts to foreign dignitaries.

Hints of the finest powdered gold gleam on the edges of this ghostly white tea bowl dating from the early Edo period. Iron-like freckles pepper the surface which is subtly clouded with soft color. The base is almost entirely covered in glaze, the glimpses of earth worn dark with age and use. It comes wrapped in a silk bag with an age darkened kiri wood box titled Hagi Chawan and named within Kan-no-yuki annotated by Yabunouchi Chikusojochi (1864-1942) 11th head of the Yabunouchi school of tea. The bowl is 5 inches (13 cm) diameter, 3 inches (7.5 cm) tall with 4 gold repairs to glaze losses in the rim, otherwise is in excellent condition.

A daunting image by radical Nihon Nanga-In member and founder of the Osaka Art College Yano Kyoson (1890-1965) dating from earlier in this influential artists career. Crisp white walls of a strangely elongated house perch on the edge of a dark forest reaching up to the rain washed sky. A single tree ripe with yellow leaves guards the entrance. The light color on silk image is bordered in lavender silk matching the leaden sky, extended with green cloth and features shimmering silvered-yellow ceramic rollers well suited to the color of the autumn leaves. The scroll is 13 x 56 inches (33 x 142.5 cm) and is in excellent condition, enclosed in a fine Kiri-wood box. Yano Kyoson was born in Ehime prefecture, on the Island of Shikoku, and studied under Nakamatsu Shunyo. He exhibited consistently with the Nihon Nanga-in, of which he was a founding member. He also was consistently presented at the Bunten and Teiten National Exhibition, where he served as a Juror, and later at the Nitten. His work is held in the collection of the National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo, as well as any number of important private collections.

A hermitage lost in the early blossoms of the plum forest, ink and light color inside a wide gold border and mulberry frame typical of the Taisho era. Gold powder has been liberally applied intimating a shimmering mist throughout, creating an ethereal quality. Signed in the upper left corner, it is 68 x 149 inches (172.5 x 378 cm) and in overall fine condition. Akashi Shoun was born in Osaka on March 12, 1867, the first year of the Meiji era and a time of great change in Japan. He was fond of these hermetic scenes of rural seclusion, perhaps a reaction to the swift changes sweeping Japan at that time, and heavily influenced by the Sencha Literati scene which sought refuge from the world in the Literati ideal of ancient China. Shoun himself left the big city of Osaka to settle in the provincial castle town of Akashi on the Seto Inland Sea where he took the name.

“I am here” she whispers as the bespectacled gentleman pours the last drops from his bottle and says “I am going home”…a lithograph by Kei Hiraga numbered 50/120 and signed Key Hiraga ’88 with the artist’s seal in red. The paper sheet, matted and framed, measures 50.5 x 42 cm (20 x 16-1/2 inches) and is in excellent condition. This is an superb example of his work, showing both his eros and playful nature in the abstracted figuration for which he is most remembered. Included is a newspaper featuring an article on his life from December 2000.
Hiraga Kei (Key, 1936-2000) was born in Tokyo and aspired to art from a young age during the tumultuous post-war era when art was not high in the Japanese conscious. He Graduated from the Department of Economics, Rikkyo University in Tokyo, but could not curb the itch, and in 1963 won 3rd Prize at Shell Art Exhibition. The following year he was awarded the New Artist Prize at the 38th National Exhibition and Grand Prix with a grant for study in Paris at the 3rd National Young Artists Exhibition. In 1965 he moved to Paris, where he remained until 1977. The same year (1965) he was exhibited at Seize Jeune Peintres Japonais exhibition at Galerie Lambert in Paris and participated in a group exhibition of nine artists at Galerie Argos, Nantes in Belgium. Over the next decade he would be exhibited in Paris, Prague, Lyon, Edinburgh, Haarlem, Tokyo and Milan as well as participating in group exhibitions in France, Brazil, Italy and Japan. In 1972 Hiraga’s works were shown at Salon des Beaux Arts exhibition and Salon de la Realite Nouvelle at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris and then at the “Japanese Artists from Europe” exhibition at National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto. He would also be included in the “turning point of contemporary art in the 1960’s” at The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, and Kyoto. In 1989 Art Exciting ’89 at The Museum of Modern Art in Saitama Prefecture which travelled to the Queensland Art Gallery in Australia. In 1991 he was featured in “Japanese Anti Art Now and Then” at The National Museum of Art, Osaka. An exhibition of Hiraga’s work Hiratsuka Museum of Art, Hiratsuka in Kanagawa Prefecture and Bokushin Gallery in Tokyo was held the year of his death in 2000. His home in Hakone has been turned into a Museum. Work by him is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art New York. A pair of paintings by this artist sold at Christies Hong Kong in 2014 for over 300,000 dollars. For more see “The Elegant Life of Key Hiraga: a Japanese Artist in Europe 1965-1974” (2008)

Silver designs are inlayed into the surface of this mid-century bronze by Honbo Keisen enclosed in the original signed wooden box. It is 29 cm (11-1/2 inches) tall and in excellent condition. It is signed in a silver cartouche on the base. Honbo Keisen (1910-1987) was born in Takaoka City, one of the main production centers of Bronze in Japan. Work by him is held in the Takaoka Municiap Museum.

A Carved and Gilded Buddhist Reliquary containing a polished pink stone exhibited at the Shimane Prefectural Musuem Arakawa Kisai exhibition in 1974 enclosed in a custom-made wooden box and retaining the loan papers from the museum as well as the original pamphlet. The wood body has been carved in tempestuous waves, lacquered black and gilded, with a polished pink orb inside a flame shaped finial. It is 7 inches (18 cm) tall and in excellent condition.
Arakawa Kisai (dates disputed, roughly 1827-1906) was born the son of a carpenter in Shimane prefecture. He was considered a child prodigy by the age of five, and began sculpting around his tenth birthday. He received a proper education, and by the time he was twelve his clay sculptures were a popular collector’s item. At the age of fourteen his artistic training began in earnest, working as a netsuke carver, he studied shrine architecture while also taking painting lessons from Nabeshima Ungaku, his son Kagaku and Buddhist sculpture under Kato Saori (sp?). Successful in these endeavors, at the age of 28 he would also begin metal sculpting while keeping company with artisans of all trades, absorbing many skills. With the opening of the country in the Meiji era, he would begin studying Nanga painting under Nakanishi Koseki as well as Western style oil painting under pioneering artist Yokoyama Matsusaburo who would be considered a master at photography, lithography and painting. He submitted a piece to the first Naikoku Hakurankai (1877 National Industrial Exhibition) which was awarded and collected by the Imperial Household. He studied Physics, and developed a number of important inventions including weaving machines. His work was awarded at both the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, and the Paris World Exposition in 1900. One work considered his masterpiece, a carving of the mythological Princess Inada, is held in the collection of Izumo Shrine, one of the most holy sites in Shintoism. The Arakawa Kisai Ten in which this was featured was held n 1974, and his work was again the focus of attention with the exhibit “The Japanese Aesthetic Hearn Loved, Sculptor Arakawa Kisai and Lafcadion Hearn held in 2018-2019. An excerpt from that show: In August of 1890, Lafcadio Hearn would be transferred to Matsue, and discover a certain stone statue while out for a walk. Hearn became mesmerized by the statue, a friendly Buddhist Jizo which overflowed with benevolence and belonged to the Ryusho-ji Temple in Teramachi. Hearn immediately asked after the sculptor, and this was how he came to know the name Arakawa Kisai. The very next day, Hearn visited Kisai’s workshop, where he became enamored with the skill and demeanor of the master sculptor. The two men discussed the arts and are said to have hit it off very well (San-in Shimbun Newspaper). Hearn would go on to commission pieces from Kisai in an effort to introduce the sculptor to the world, as a producer might promote an artist. The bond these two men shared can be glimpsed today in Hearn’s writings; the diaries of Nishida Sentaro, who was Deputy Head Teacher of Shimane Prefectural Common Middle School and Hearn’s good friend; letters to Nishida; contemporary newspaper articles (San-in Shimbun); and other sources.

Kannon (Guanyin) the bodhisattva of compassion, is depicted by two of the most famous painters of the early Showa period on this pair of presentation cloths by Hashimoto Kansetsu and Tomita Keisen. Keisen’s loosely brushed image of a cherubic Kannon sits in the center of an Enso Zen circle. The calligraphy on the left reads "Entsu", a Buddhist term combining the kanji for circle and authority, loosely meaning knowledge of the circle of Buddhist Doctrine, the cycle of life and of all things eternal. Kansetsu, on the other hand, creates a more severe image of Kannon seated in a lotus petal floating in tumultuous seas. The back of this features a long inscription and is dated Showa 7 (1932). The date coincides with the peak of Tomita Keisens popularity, shortly before his untimely death. It is also the year Kansetsu lost his wife, and this may explain the difference in perception of the Compassionate figure. He subsequently created a temple (Gesshinji) in her honor. Both come wrapped around pillows in a red lacquered wooden box signed by Keisen. Each is 34.5 x 36.5 cm (13-1/2 x 14-1/2 inches) and both are in fine condition.
Hashimoto Kansetsu (1883–1945) was born in Kobe, son of painter Hashimoto Kaikan from whom he gained a love of Chinese culture. He studied at Chikujokai under Takeuchi Seiho (1864-1942), but eventually withdrew due to differences of opinion. He visited Europe in 1921 and after that spent part of almost every year in China. His early years were heavily influenced by ancient Chinese painting, a passion for which he made frequent trips to the continent. Many of his paintings were inspired by Chinese scenery or Chinese classical literature. His former residence in Kyoto is now a museum of his work called the Hakusasonso. He exhibited consistently at the Bunten, and was a member of the Imperial Art Academy. Works by him are held in the Kyoto National Museum, Tokyo National Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, and the Boston Museum of Fine Art, as well as almost every major collection.
Tomita Keisen (1879-1936) was born in Fukuoka on the southern Island of Kyushu into a family of restaurateurs, however fascinated with the arts, he began studying painting at the age of 12 in the Kano school tradition with Kinugasa Morimasa (1852-1912), the official painter for the Kuroda clan. In 1896, he went to Kyōto to continue his education in the Shijo manner with Tsuji Kako, and exhibited with the Japan Painting Association as well as with the Bunten/Teiten National Exhibitions among many others. Keisen also sought inspiration in Buddhist paintings from the Nara and Heian periods which he studied on frequent trips to Nara, the ancient capital. In the 1920s, he would delve into the concepts of the Nanga tradition of literati painting, and his unorthodox use of color and dramatic sense of proportion would propel him to great fame. Religion fascinated Keisen, and much of his work centers around these ideals. His works also show the influence of literati artists Tomioka Tessai and eccentric Buddhist Sengai Gibon. He developed a hybrid of these which has proven extremely popular, even with contemporary audiences and his work is still highly prized. In 1935 he was made a member of the Japan Art Academy. He died the following year at the age of 58. Works by him are held in Tokyo National Museum of Modern art and Kyoto Natioanl Museum of Modern Art, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, The Kyoto City (Kyocera) Museum, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Rijksmuseum, Fukuoka Art Museum, Tokyo Fuji Art Museum and many others. For more on this artist see Kyōto no Nihonga 1910–1930. National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, 1986

Flames of red flash form the bird resurrected on the side of this large Cloisonne vase by the Ando company of Nagoya; Japan’s premier cloisonne studio. The color is hard to describe, seeming to be lit from within. A combination of wire and wireless design using gold wire with silver rim. Ando mark on base, the vase measures 37 cm (14-1/2 inches) tall, 32 cm (12-1/2 inches) diameter and is in excellent condition. It comes enclosed in a fine, custom made kiri-wood box.

A voluminous ink landscape built around two scholars viewing the cascade dropping into the canyon on this huge scroll by Tanaka Hakuin enclosed in the original signed wooden box dated Meiji 45 (1912). Performed with rich black ink against the sheer white paper, the mountainous crags and leafy forms built up in layers of gray and black. The scene is mounted in patterned silk with white piping in the Mincho style popular among literati painters in the era, and features huge bone rollers. It is 104.5 x 238 cm (41 x 94 inches) and is in excellent condition.
Tanaka Hakuin (birth name Nakagawa Keizaburo, 1866-1934) was born in Suruga, Shizuoka prefecture in the last years of the Edo period and became a student of Tanomura Chokunyu in Kyoto, the cultural heartland of Japan, at the age of 17. This was a tumultuous period as Western ideas and Technology were flooding into Japan. He was the top pupil of Chokunyu, working in the style of both Chikuden and his mentor. At this time he used the name Tanomura Hakuin. In 1900 he married and moved to Hofu city in Yamaguchi prefecture taking his wifes family name Tanaka as his surname, and thereafter was known as Tanaka Hakuin. He established a school for painting where he worked for his remaining years. Work by him is held in the Mori Art Museum and Honolulu Museum of Art among others.

Jurojin getting an earful; a humorous image by Suzuki Shonen showing the elderly god having his ear cleaned by his companion, the long lived crane. It comes enclosed in a double wooden box annotated by Konishi Fukunen (1887-1959) and bears a label from the Daimaru Department Store. Fukunen was one of Shonens most famous pupils. The ink and light color on paper image is bordered in a superb brocade mounting with solid ivory rollers. It measures 64 x 149 cm (25 x 59 inches) and is in fine condition.
Suzuki Shonen (1849-1918) studied under his father Suzuki Hyakunen and served as a professor at the Kyoto Municipal School of Painting. Born in Kyoto, he lived through the tumultuous early years of change in the Meiji era, when Japan was opened to outside influence for the first time in 3 centuries. Reflecting the times, he established his own unique style of painting which blended aspects of Nanga and the Shijo School, with influences from Otsu-e and Western Perspective. Much lauded in his lifetime, he was awarded a silver medal at the Paris World Exhibition in 1900. He is well known as the teacher of Uemura Shoen, one of the most important artists of the era. Works by this artist are held in the collection of the Victoria Albert Museum, British Museum, Ashmolean, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Seattle Art Museum among many many other important private and public collections.

This Toba-e E-maki appears to be a 19th century Gi-ga follower of the later 18th to early 19th century Osaka "Manga-ka" Nichosai (Matsudaira Heisaburo). His humorous images of Hell were quite popular, known as Kakuyu painting.　Overall the genre has many names, Gi-ga being all encompassing, Toba-e being descriptive of this particular style, and Kakuyu-fu being the style of Nichosai. It ends with a simple stamp which reads Fish (Gyo/Sakana). It is 11 by 174 inches (28 x 442 cm). Very interesting look into the early world of Manga

Texture has been applied to joined silk panels intimating waves and frothing sea salt which has then been gilded with genuine silver by Imai Toshimitsu signed and dated 2000. Each panel is 67 x 183 cm (31 x 72 inches) and the screen is in excellent condition.
Toshimitsu Imai was born in Kyoto in 1928. After finishing school in 1948, he trained at the Tokyo State Art Academy. Throughout Imai's career his work was distinguished by an acute sensitivity to color. In 1951 Imai was awarded the Kansai-Shinseisaku Prize and in 1952 the prize for the best new artist at the 15th Shinseisaku Exhibition. After his first solo show in Japan, Imai moved to Paris in 1952. There he attended the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and the Sorbonne, where he completed a degree course in medieval history and philosophy. Imai showed paintings in 1953 and 1954 at the Salon de l'Art Sacré. Under the sway of new impressions and influenced by the critic Michel Tapié, Imai switched from representational to abstract art in March 1955. Imai was the first Japanese artist to join Informel, and would be central to the dissemination of its activities abroad. By organizing a group show in Japan in 1956 and visiting his native country accompanied by Sam Francis and George Mathieu (1957), Toshimitsu Imai played a paramount role in introducing European Abstract art to Japan. From 1956 Imai's own work was sold by Leo Castelli in New York and, from 1957, Galerie Stadler in Paris. The success Imai had with his work at the 1953 São Paulo Biennale and the 1960 Venice Biennale brought him international acclaim, followed by recognition at home in 1962: Toshimitsu Imai was awarded a prize at the 5th Exhibition of Japanese Contemporary Art in Tokyo and the Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo holds several of his paintings in their permanent collection. After 1970 - Imai was commuting regularly between Paris and Japan. In 1984 Imai was a co-founder of the Japanese Contemporary Artists' Association (JCAA).
Imai was awarded numerous distinctions in France and elsewhere in Europe: in 1991 he was made an honorary citizen of Madrid, in 1992 of Lyon. In 1996 he was made a chevalier de la Légion d'honneur and in 1997 an Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Imai’s art is governed by fluidity and a rejection of fixed shape and image, where technicality and composition have both been renounced on the canvas.
Similar work sold for 16,173 dollars in Christies Hong Kong, on May 29 2016. Top price paid for this artist was 152,672 USD on 28 May 2016. Another work achieved the price of 47,100 Euro in Paris, 5 June 2013