Page 164 - Fine Japanese Art Bonhams London May 2018

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ARTIST UNKNOWN, TOSA SCHOOL For the closest published version of the Kamo horse race, compare
Edo period (1615-1868), second half of the 17th century a pair of chubyobu (two-thirds size) screens in the Suntory Museum
The left-hand of a pair of six-panel folding screens, ink and colours of Art, dated by Sakakibara Satoru to the Kanbun era (1661-
on gold paper, depicting a panorama of the annual horse race at the 1673). As Sakakibara notes, over time the religious and ceremonial
Kamigamo (Upper Kamo) Shrine with seven mounted participants aspects of the Kamo races became less important and the shrine
and numerous extravagantly dressed spectators and revellers on itself consequently no longer needed to occupy the whole of the
both sides of the racetrack, including courtiers, samurai, members of left-hand screen as in earlier examples. Held every year on the fifth
the townsman class and musicians, amongst temples, shrines and day of the fifth month, the event became more of a straightforward
viewing and performance platforms set against a background of the entertainment, as the present lively version attests; see Takeda
Kamo River and distant hills interspersed with gold clouds. Tsuneo and others, Nihon byobu-e shusei (Compendium of Japanese
171.5cm x 370cm (67½in x 145¾in). Screen Painting), vol. 13, Fuzokuga: Sairei, kabuki (Genre Painting:
Ceremonies and Kabuki), Tokyo, Kodansha, 1978, cat. nos. 27-28,
£3,000 - 5,000 29-30 and p.95.
JPY450,000 - 760,000
US$4,200 - 7,100

For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
162 | BONHAMS please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue.