Page 30 - Bonhams The Zuiun Collection NYC March 2017

5046 5046
MURAKAMI TETSUDŌ 村上鉄堂 (1868–
5047 1919)
A carved and lacquered incense tray
28 | BONHAMS Japan, Meiji (1868–1912) or Taisho era
(1912–1926), early 20th century
Carved in the form of a large curling lotus
leaf sheltering a crab under one of the curls,
finished in greenish-brown lacquer
With a wooden tomobako storage box, the
lid inscribed Hasu kani kōbon 蓮蟹香盆
(Lotus and crab incense tray), the reverse of
the lid signed Kanazawa . . . Tetsudō sei 金沢
鉄堂製 (Made by Tetsudō of Kanazawa) with
seal Tetsudō 鉄堂
23 3/4 × 15 1/2in (60.3 × 39.3cm)

US$5,000 - 7,000

Born in Komatsu City, Ishikawa Prefecture,
Murakami Tetsudō is best known for
elaborate, detailed sculptures and festival
floats depicting mythological subjects
which are still preserved in the locality. He
traveled to the United States in 1893 to
exhibit a sculpture of the medieval hero
Nitta Yoshisada at the Chicago World’s
Columbian Exhibition and on his return took
up a position at the Toyama Prefectural Craft
School in Takaoka 富山県高岡工芸学校, later
becoming its principal. See Tōkyō Kokuritsu
Bunkazai Kenkyūjo 東京国立文化財研究
所, Meijiki bankoku hakurankai bijutsuhin
shuppin mokuroku 明治期万国博覧会美術品
出品目録 (Catalogues of Objects Exhibited
at International Expositions in the Meiji Era).
Tokyo: Chūōkōron Bijutsu Shuppan中央公論
美術出版, 1997, p. 425 (no.37): “Mrakami,
Tetsdo. Nitta Yoshisada.”

5047
A HARDWOOD TRAY
Japan, Meiji (1868–1912) or Taisho (1912–
1926) era, late 19th–early 20th century
Lacquered and naturalistically carved as a
full-size model of a branch of biwa (loquat)
with leaves and two bunches of fruit, a
mouse with inlaid eyes crouching by the
smaller branch
With a wooden tomobako storage box, the
lid inscribed Kibori biwagata bon 木彫枇杷形
盆 (Carved wood tray in the form of loquat)
23 1/4 × 10 1/2in (59.1 × 26.7cm)

US$6,000 - 8,000