Page 29 - Bonhams The Zuiun Collection NYC March 2017
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5045
5045 Tomioka Tessai, among the most celebrated painters of his time,
developed a unique version of the Nanga style, inspired by Chinese
A BURLWOOD INCENSE TRAY INSCRIBED BY TOMIOKA ptototypes, and was a leading exponent of the sencha style of
TESSAI 富岡鉄斎 (1836–1924) tea, another cultural tradition with deep Chinese roots. Saami,
Japan, Meiji (1868–1912) or Taisho (1912–1926) era, late 19th– a celebrated Japanese restaurant in Kyoto’s Maruyama Park, is
early 20th century mentioned in Kawabata Yasunari’s novel Koto (The Old Capital,
The tray carved from a natural section of burlwood, striated, carved, 1962).
and polished to a smooth surface
With a Japanese wooden tomobako storage box, the exterior of the
lid inscribed with an ancient form of the character Shi (in Chinese,
Zhi) 芝 (magic fungus) followed by the explanation Shi no koji 芝之
古字 (The ancient character for shi), the reverse of the lid inscribed
Maruyama Saami enchū shosei Tessai dai 圓山左阿弥園中所生鉄
斎題 (Inscribed by Tessai at the Saaami [Restaurant] in Maruyama
Park), with a seal
7 3/8 × 14 7/8 × 3 1/8in (18.7 × 37.7 × 7.8cm)
US$8,000 - 10,000
THE ZUIUN COLLECTION | 27
