Page 49 - Bonhams Royal Collection Fine Japanese Art London Nov. 2019

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SHIBATA ZESHIN 柴田是真 (1807–1891)
ZANSAISAGE OR TONKOTSU (CONTAINER FOR FOOD
SCRAPS) WITH DESIGN OF WAVES AND PLOVERS
波千鳥図蒔絵頓骨
Meiji era (1868–1912), circa 1870–1890

With tapering sides, rounded corners, and overhanging lid, probably Exhibited and Published:
of wood, covered in dark-brown, almost black seidō-nuri, with a Nezu Bijutsukan (Nezu Museum) 2012, cat. no. 31
design of chidori in gold takamaki-e and waves in red lacquer; signed
in scratched characters toward the base of one of the shorter sides Published:
Zeshin 是真 Hirano 1998, cat. no. 56

6.6cm × 8.9cm × 4.7cm (2⅝in × 3½in × 1⅞in) £15,000 - 20,000
JPY1,900,000 - 2,600,000
With fitted wood tomobako inscribed Zeshin-ō saku nami ni chidori US$18,000 - 24,000
maki-e tonkotsu Kakan’an Chikushin kan narabi ni dai 是真翁作 波に
千鳥蒔絵頓骨 可寛菴竹真鑒並題 (Tonkotsu with waves and plovers The design motif of waves and chidori, variously translated as
in maki-e by the venerable Zeshin, certified and inscribed by Kakan’an ‘dotterels’, ‘wave-birds’, or ‘plovers’, has been used in Japanese
Chikushin), with seal Yūsai 有斎, and an open-weave silk bag with a lacquer for around a millennium and owes its origin to the poetic idea
tying-cord and lacquered netsuke in the form of a covered jar (4) of small birds being formed from the spray of ocean waves; ever the
innovator, Zeshin shows many of the birds on the ground rather than
Provenance: in flight. The waves were painted by hand in wet lacquer, an even
Hirano Family, Hyakuraku-an Collection more laborious method than Zeshin’s trademark combed seigaiha-nuri
平野家（百楽庵）旧藏 technique.
Misumi Hisashi Collection
三隅悠 旧蔵 For more information regarding Shōji Chikushin, please refer to the
Sold in these Rooms, 5 November 2014, lot 1 footnote to lots 9 and 11.

Exhibited:
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2017–2018

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 | 47