Page 37 - Bonhams Royal Collection Fine Japanese Art London Nov. 2019
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For similar paintings by Zeshin, compare Grace Tsumugi Fine Art
           2014, cat. no. 1 and Gōke 1981b, cat. no. 264, in Tōyama Memorial
           Museum, Saitama Prefecture; cat. no. 267 from the previous
           publication is a more benign image of Okame or Ofuku, a goddess
           of good fortune, also shown in a roundel on a red background with
           the oni fleeing toward the bottom left of the scroll. As Gōke notes in
           his commentary to the latter piece, a great earlier painter Ogata Kōrin
           (1658–1716) made use of the roundel device in a scroll depicting
           Okame, but Zeshin introduced many changes in both composition
           and treatment, while the application of the same device to Shōki the
           Demon-queller, as well as to other imaginary personalities such as
           Fukurokuju (one of the Shichifukujin or Seven Gods of Good Fortune)
           seems to have been his own innovation.

           Zeshin’s leading pupil Shōji Chikushin (see also lots 9 and 16) not only
           inscribed (as he often did) an authentication inside the storage box
           for this piece but also decorated the box’s exterior with an exquisitely
           brushed painting of irises, as well as having his son and pupil Shōji
           Hōshin finish the roller ends with a seaweed design in gold lacquer.











           12
           SHIBATA ZESHIN 柴田是真 (1807–1891)
           TANZAKU (POEM CARD) WITH URUSHI-E (LACQUER
           PAINTING) OF A GOURD
           瓢箪図漆絵短冊
           Meiji era (1868–1912), circa 1870–1890

           Lacquer on paper with flakes of gold and silver, mounted on silver-
           backed card, depicting a partial view of a natural gourd, fitted with a
           red silk cord and a stopper; signed Zeshin 是真 with seal Reisai 令哉

           35cm × 5.7cm (13¾in × 2¼in)

           Arched wood storage box with gold maki-e inscription Tanzaku Zeshin
           hitsu たんざく 是真筆 (Tanzaku brushed by Zeshin) (2)

           Provenance:
           Misumi Hisashi Collection
           三隅悠 旧蔵
           Sold in these Rooms, 5 November 2014, lot 9
           Exhibited:
           Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2017–2018

           £1,500 - 2,000
           JPY190,000 - 260,000
           US$1,800 - 2,400
           For an example of an actual gourd fitted with a red silk cord, lacquered
           by Zeshin with a springtime dandelion design, see Nezu Bijutsukan 2012,
           cat. no. 30.



           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    |  35
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