Page 27 - Christies March 15 2017 Fujita Museum

Fig. 2. Kyo-yaki pottery 'rhinoceros-form' vessel, si gong, made by Okuda Eisen, Collection of Kenninji, the oldest Zen temple
in Kyoto.
圖二 奧田穎川 京燒兕觥

Although Chinese archaic bronze vessels were known by connoisseurs in Japan and valued in the
sencha society, it was dificult to acquire authentic works and collectors’ knowledge was limited
in the early Meiji period. Given this background, one can understand how, people would have been
astonished by the scene at the Juhachi-kai gathering where so many genuine Shang and Zhou archaic
bronze vessels, as well as mirrors, were displayed at the same time.

Shunsui continued to collect archaic bronzes after this pivotal event. In the 1910s, he published
a catalogue of his collection of archaic bronzes, Sen-oku seisho (泉屋清賞). In the preface of the
catalogue, he states “archaic bronzes are superb examples and all art work should be of such high
quality; they are also indispensable in understanding ancient history and culture”. This statement is
noteworthy as it signifes the fact that Shunsui formed his archaic bronze collection with a modern
view of antiquities and their cultural signifcance, at a time when archeology had not yet been
established as an academic subject in Japan. The Sumitomo bronze collection was initially inspired by
Chinese literati taste but subsequently developed into a coherent and academic collection.

Ueno Riichi was the president of the Osaka Asahi newspaper. He was a member of Juhachi-kai and his
Chinese painting collection is now stored in the Kyoto National Museum. Ueno started his collection
around the time of the Xinhai Revolution, a bit later than when Shunsui built his bronze collection.

Ueno started to collect Chinese paintings at the suggestion of Naito Konan (内藤湖南 1866 - 1934)
who was a professor at the Kyoto Imperial University. Naito Konan visited famous Beijing collectors,

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