Page 19 - Bonhams September 12 2018 New York Japanese Works of Art

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ARTIST UNKNOWN 作者不詳 Like many high-quality bronzes made during the earlier decades of
A Bronze and Shibuichi Vase with a Simulated Wood Base the Meiji era, the present lot melds several artistic traditions. The
池水鯉遊図古獣文彫金ブロンズ花瓶 form bears a close resemblance to tall-shouldered ceramic vessel
Meiji era (1868–1912), circa 1875–1890 shapes that evolved during China’s Song dynasties (960–1279) and
Of elongated baluster form with low out-turned mouth and flat were later copied in other media, first in China and later in Japan.
rim, the top and base of chocolate-brown patinated bronze, the The confronted dragon motifs around the shoulder are a continuation
central band of shibuichi, the sides of the base cast and chiseled to of the Edo-period (1615–1868) fascination with exotic beasts of
resemble the sandy bed of a river, the shoulder inlaid in copper and Chinese origin, while the more realistic-looking fish swimming among
gold with confronted dragon motifs of Chinese inspiration, the central waterweeds owe their origin to the Shijō school of painting that
band chiseled and with relief of gold, silver, shakudō, shibuichi, and emerged in Kyoto during the middle to late eighteenth century and
copper depicting swimming carp and weeds, the separate bronze combined direct observation of nature with deft use of the East Asian
base cast in the form of seven mooring posts around a rotting tree brush, translated here into chiseled metalwork; Shijō painters were
trunk, unsigned particularly fond of demonstrating their skill at depicting fish under
Height overall 13 3/4 in. (35 cm) water. Finally, the rotting mooring posts reflects the Japanese love of
Height without stand 11 in. (27.8 cm) trompe l’œil imitation of one material by another, a trend seen also
in ceramics and lacquer. Brought together in a single work of art,
$15,000 - 20,000 these diverse features produce an effect that, at the time, must have
seemed both reassuringly traditional and attractively novel.

ANCIENT SKILLS, NEW WORLDS TWENTY TREASURES OF JAPANESE METALWORK FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION | 17