Page 26 - Christies March 15 2017 Fujita Museum

The cultural background of the intellectual class in Kansai, which developed a respect for Chinese
art through the sencha boom, and their admiration of the Chinese literati class would be important
factors as to why a signifcant number of collectors appeared in the Kansai area. Another factor is
that a large number of Chinese art works which had never been seen before became available on the
market due to the turbulent circumstances in China around the time of the Xinhai Revolution (1911).
Having a vigorous appetite for Chinese art and an ability to appreciate its aesthetic quality, collectors
in Kansai seized opportunities to build collections of Chinese art which was newly imported into
Japan. This essay will explore this fascinating history of Chinese art collecting in Kansai through
the archaic bronze collection of Sumitomo Shunsui (住友春 翠 1865 - 1926) and the painting and
calligraphy collection of Ueno Riichi (上野理一 1848 - 1919).
Sumitomo Shunsui was the 15th head of the Sumitomo family, which has been one of the major
merchant families since the Edo period. His archaic bronze collection is now known worldwide and
is stored in the Sen-oku Hakuko kan Museum (泉屋博古館) in Kyoto. In 1902 (35th year of Meiji),
Shunsui frst exhibited his collection at a gathering of the Juhachi-kai (十八会), held in the main
residence of the Sumitomo family. Juhachi-kai, literally translated as “eighteen party”, was a gathering
of eighteen important collectors in Kansai where each member exhibited his collection by turns,
coinciding with the tea ceremony. Fujita Denzaburo was a leading member of this prestigious society.
The tea rooms of both sencha and maccha style were set up and displayed clever use of artworks
not necessarily intended for a tea context. Occasionally an exhibition room was installed. Shunsui
surprised the other collectors at the exhibition with his eighteen Chinese archaic bronze vessels and
thirteen bronze mirrors.

Fig. 1. Line drawing of a Ming dynasty archaistic bronze ding catalogued as dating to the Han dynasty, in Ichikawa Beian, Koyama Rindou shoga bunbo zusetsu, 1854.
圖一 市河米庵著《小山林堂書畫文房圖錄》中的明代仿古銅鼎。

Chinese archaic bronzes had been known to some extent in Japan by the literati who practiced the
sencha tea ceremony. An infuential calligrapher at the end of Edo period, Ichikawa Beian (市河米庵
1779 - 1858), also known as Koyama Rindou, compiled his collection of Chinese paintings, calligraphy
and scholar’s objects into a ten-volume catalogue entitled, Koyama Rindou shoga bunbo zusetsu (小
山林堂書画文房図説) in 1854. (Fig. 1) The 8th volume of his catalogue is subtitled “Archaic Bronzes
from the Zhou and Han Dynasties”. However, what Beian thought to be Zhou and Han bronzes were
actually Ming-dynasty archaistic bronze vessels. This naiveté is refected in a ceramic vessel shaped
like a si gong (‘rhinoceros-form’ pouring vessel) made by Okuda Eisen (奥田潁川), a potter of Kyo-yaki
(京焼). The vessel is a creative rather than a literal interpretation of Shang and Zhou bronze vessels.
(Fig. 2)

24 IMPORTANT CHINESE ART FROM THE FUJITA MUSEUM