Page 76 - Beyond Compare Christie's Hong Kong RU WARE .pdf

BEYOND COMPARE: A Thousand Years of the Literati Aesthetic

he joined Count Itagaki Taisuke ۪ؐৗп (1837-1919) and others in seeking to
persuade the government to establish a national assembly and a written constitution.
Shinobu Komuro later became a businessman involved in both Kyodo Unyu (΍Ν༶
፩䔼ٟ), later known as Nihon Yusen Kaisha (˚͉ඉ୵). In 1891 he was nominated
to the House of Peers ൮ૄ৫.

The current vase later entered the collection of the Tominaga family ̆ዓˤ and
was in the possession of Tominaga Fuyuki బ͑̆ዓ who at one time served as a
director of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Fuyuki Tominaga was the brother-in-law of
the famous art collector and connoisseur, Baron Masuda Takashi ू͞ѽӲᐌ (1848-
1938), who either bought the vase directly from the Tominaga family, or purchased
it at auction. Masuda Takashi, whose wife Ei 㘑㘐 was from the Tominaga family,
was the son of an official who served as Hakodate bugyo ᇌ᎜ւБ or commissioner
on Sado Island Рನ㙩ࢥ (modern Niigata prefectureอᆝ㵢) dealing with foreigners
and foreign trade. At the age of fourteen Masuda Takashi was already able to act
as an interpreter with American consular officials, and in the 1860s studied English
at the Hepburn School, which would become Meiji Gakuin University ׼ط䕎৫ɽ
䕎. At the time of the 1868 Meiji Restoration, Masuda was a Lieutenant Colonel in
the shogunate’s cavalry, but following the Meiji Restoration he was employed in the
Ministry of Finance, thanks to his connections with Marquis Inoue Kaoru ʜɪ ᙚ
(1836-1915), who became Vice Minister of Finance in 1871. He served for a short
time as Master of the Mint ׿ͭБ݁جɛி࿆҅ but in 1874, again with Marquis
Inoue’s support, became vice president of the Senshu Kaisha Trading Company. In
1876 Mitsui & Co. was established and Masuda was installed as president, at the age
of 27. Mitsui & Co. was essentially a venture capital company, but in the same year it
was transformed through merger into a general trading company Mitsui Bussan Kaisai
ɧʜيṰ which would become one of the largest trading companies in Japan and
by 1880 would have overseas branches not only in other parts of Asia, but in Europe
and America. Masuda also used his own private funds to establish the Chugai Shogyo
Shimpo newspaper ʕ̮ਠุอజ (the precursor to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun ˚͉䌂
㥽อၲ) a leading economic newspaper. Masuda formally retired in 1914, and in
1918 he was elevated to the rank of baron (Ӳᐌ danshaku) in the kazoku ശૄpeerage
system. After retirement he devoted much of his energies to art collection and the
study and practice of Japanese tea ceremony. He is believed to have begun collecting
art in 1878 and by the time of his death in 1938 he had amassed some four thousand
items (see Christine Guth, Art, Tea and Industry: Masuda Takashi and the Mitsui Circle,
Princeton, 1993). Masuda became famous as a master of the tea ceremony, taking
the name Masuda Donno ू͞ඔॽ and holding tea ceremonies at his residences
in Odawara ʃ͞ࡡ and Kamakura 々ࡑ. He held exhibitions of art from his own
collection and those of other collectors in his circle. Masuda Takashi became known
for his refined tastes and is regarded by many as the greatest influence on tea in Japan
since Sen no Rikyu. He is believed to have regarded this vase as one of his greatest
treasures

The current vase has thus been a revered object in both China and Japan for some
eight hundred years. It is a rare and perfect reflection of the refined aesthetics of the
Southern Song court, which later found eager appreciation among the great tea and
art connoisseurs in Japan.

74 ʔɭ { ҂˾ߕኪɓɷϋ