Page 21 - Bonhams Royal Collection Fine Japanese Art London Nov. 2019

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SHIBATA ZESHIN 柴田是真 (1807–1891)
URUSHI-E (LACQUER PAINTING) OF MARE’S-TAIL, FERNS,
AND BUTTERFLY
杉菜蕨胡蝶図額装漆絵
Meiji era (1868–1912), circa 1880–1890

Urushi (lacquer) on paper, the foreground embellished with gold flakes, Exhibited:
depicting three warabi (edible ferns), one of them placed with the head Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2017–2018
out of view and another with a butterfly perched on its top, flanking
two fertile heads of sugina (mare’s-tail), and two tall and several smaller £4,000 - 6,000
sterile stems of sugina; signed Zeshin 是真 with seal Tairyūkyo 対柳居 JPY520,000 - 770,000
US$4,900 - 7,300
Overall: 45.4cm × 42.3cm (17⅞in × 16⅝in)
Image: 26.5cm × 23.7cm (10¾in × 9⅜in) Zeshin depicts the mare’s-tail in different stages of development in
conjunction with stems of edible fern, enabling the viewer to pinpoint
With cloth-bound storage box (2) the season as late spring. This precision reflects the influence of Sakai
Hōitsu (1761–1828), an important Edo-based painter of the previous
Provenance: generation who transformed the Rinpa style of decorative nature
Misumi Hisashi Collection painting by lending it a new naturalism and sense of time and place.
三隅悠 旧蔵 For a similar treatment of this theme by Zeshin, also in urushi-e, see
Sold in these Rooms, 5 November 2014, lot 12 Erik Thomsen, 2013, cat. no. 15.

For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue. A ROYAL COLLECTION | 19