Page 36 - September 21 2021 Important Japanese Art Christie's NYC

ANOTHER PROPERTY
17 A SCULPTURE OF A PAIR OF QUAILS

MEIJI-TAISHO PERIOD (LATE 19TH-EARLY 20TH CENTURY), SIGNED KATSUHIRO
(KAGAWA KATSUHIRO; 1853-1917)
The metal sculpture in the suhama (sandy
beach) shape, a pair of quails setting on
rokusho-nuri ground slope by a gilt silver
stream with copper and gold-inlaid maple
leaves, a brass ginko leaf and shibuichi and
copper patinated timber piles, the quails
in shibuichi body, feather decorated with
copper and shakudo inlays and silver gilt, eyes
patinated in silver, gilt beaks and feet, base
set on bracket feet wood stand; signature on a
silver round plaque mounted to reverse
8¡ x 17æ in. (21.3 x 45.1 cm.)
With a wood storage box

$25,000-30,000

Quails appeared in Japanese literatures as early as in Manyoshu
(Collection of Ten Thousands Leaves) from 8th century. The
animal was then extensively mentioned in waka and haiku, and
was often used as a reference to demonstrate the lonesome of
autumn, as presented in this sculpture by Kagawa Katsuhiro.
Quail's chirping sound was believed to pun to the word gokiccho
(sign of good luck), and this sound made quails popular among
samurai class since Muromachi Period. They were sometimes
brought to battlefields as a way to boost morale.
An Edo (later Tokyo) native, Katsuhiro apprenticed as a boy to
a carver of Noh masks before studying drawing under Shibata
Zeshin and metalworking under Nomura Katsumori and the
eminent Kano Natsuo. A frequent participant in national and
international exhibitions, he was appointed a professor at the
Tokyo School of Fine Arts in 1903. Like his mentor Natsuo,
Katsuhiro joined the elite membership of Teishitsu Gigein
(Artists to the Imperial Household) in 1906, insuring him
important commissions, exposure and recognition.

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858), A Pair of
Quails and Poppies. Japan. Edo period, 1835.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
Rogers Fund, 1918