Page 179 - Bonhams May 2017 London Fine Japanese Art

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270 Born into a family of temple craftsman, from the age of ten Komei
A WOOD OKIMONO OF A MONKEY studied painting for a time under the academic artist Kano Kazunobu
Meiji era (1868-1912), late 19th/early 20th century (1816–1863) before training as an ivory carver in the workshop
Seated, leaning forward and holding a branch of kaki (persimmon) with of Kikugawa Masamitsu, a netsuke maker. Starting in 1876, he
one hand and one foot, naturalistically carved in light stained wood, exhibited his widely at home and abroad, participated in the interior
the eyes inlaid in shell with dark pupils; unsigned. 8.9cm (3½in) high. decoration of imperial palaces, and in 1890 was appointed Teishitsu
Gigeiin (Artist to the Imperial Household). In the closing years of his
£800 - 1,000 career he occasionally carved in wood; see Jiro Harada, ‘Japanese
JPY110,000 - 140,000 Art and Artists of To-day IV: Wood and Ivory Carving’, The Studio,
US$990 - 1,200 XLII (December 1910), pp.110. Even though the kirin is, of course, a
mythological creature, here Komei, clearly taking a horse as his model,
271* carves in the naturalistic style also seen in his ivory figures of monkeys
A WOOD FIGURE OF A KIRIN and other creatures.
By Ishikawa Komei (1852–1913), Meiji (1868-1912)
or Taisho (1912-1926) era, early 20th century Confucian texts teach that the kirin (in Chinese, qilin), with a deer’s
Standing with its head turned to the right looking upward, the pupils body, a horse’s hooves, an ox’s tail, and a single horn on its head
inlaid in dark horn, its tail curved around its right leg, the fur and flame appears on earth only during the reign of a virtuous monarch; as such
markings carved in delicate low relief, signed on the tail Komei; with a a large carving of a kirin would have made a splendid congratulatory
wood storage box (an old paper label with inscriptions inside the box). gift, even during the twentieth century. For a somewhat later unsigned
41.2cm x 28cm (16¼in x 11in). (3). figure of a kirin, of similar size and offered as a gift by Yasujiro Tsutsumi
(1889–1964), a titan of Japanese industry and commerce, see Grace
£15,000 - 20,000 Tsumugi Fine Art, Japanese Works of Art, London. 2016, cat. no.42.
JPY2,100,000 - 2,800,000
US$19,000 - 25,000

For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot FINE JAPANESE ART | 177
please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue.