Page 36 - 2019 September 11th Bonhams Lewis Collection Japanese and Korean Art NYC

542
KANO TESSAI (1845-1925)
A panel with three miniature masks
Taisho era (1912-1926), dated 1924
The sugi panel mounted with three carved, gold-lacquered, and
painted miniature copies of early masks preserved in shrines
and other buildings in Nara, extensively inscribed as follows:
top, Koshu kokuho gigakumen sanjuikko no ichi (An A-grade national
treasure gigaku mask, one of 31); center, Shosoin gyobutsu doji-
men (Mask of a boy attendant, an imperial treasure of the Shosoin
Repository); lower right, Himuro Jinja homotsu Taisho kinoe-ne
toshi shigatsu kasshi no hi Nanto Koyodai Saishoseisha Maka-an
Tessai shiki (A treasure of the Himuro Shrine, recorded by Tessai of
the Maha Retreat at the Studio of Supreme Precision on the Maple
Foliage Terrace in the Southern Capital [Nara] on a kasshi day in April
1924), with a square red seal and Tessai’s idiosyncratic kao (cursive
monogram)
$8,000-10,000

Born in Gifu, Kano Tessai studied painting and sculpture under his
father (a netsuke carver) and after moving up to Tokyo in 1872 rose
to fame when he was commissioned to make a stationery set for
Okubo Toshimichi, one of the leaders of the Meiji Restoration; he also
enjoyed the support of Sano Jomin (Tsunetami), an influential figure
in the early-Meiji art world. In 1882 he relocated to Nara—Japan’s
capital from 710 to 794—and embarked on a project to study and
copy early masterpieces of Japanese art; many of the fruits of that
projects are included in the Lewis Collection. Tessai is even said to
have helped Ernest Fenollosa and Okakura Tenshin with their surveys
of classic temple art in Kyoto and Nara, but he otherwise tried to
avoid too much involvement in public life and devoted only a short
time to teaching at Tokyo Bijutsu Gakko (Tokyo Art School) in 1888-
9. Tessai first used the studio name Saishoseisha, as on the present
lot, in winter of 1919, see Gifu-shi Rekishi Hakubutsukan (Gifu City
Museum of History), Kano Tessai: Shirarezaru meiko (Kano Tessai: An
Undiscovered Master), exhibition catalogue, June 6–July 27, 2003,
Gifu City: Chūnichi Shinbunsha, 2003, p.14.

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