Page 52 - Bonhams Royal Collection Fine Japanese Art London Nov. 2019

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SHIBATA ZESHIN 柴田是真 (1807–1891)
DOOR WITH AUTUMN MAPLE-VIEWING SCENE
紅葉狩図蒔絵板戸
Meiji era (1868–1912), late 1880s

A paulownia-wood door panel, decorated in high-relief gold, silver, red, In his catalogue note for the 2012 Zeshin exhibition at the Nezu
brown, and black takamaki-e, some areas highly polished and others Museum, Takao Yō comments that the technique and design of this
heavily textured, depicting a silver tea kettle suspended from a natural door is closely related to a much-praised maki-e panel depicting a
branch laid on two rocks over a fire, pine needles and curling maple mushroom-gathering scene submitted by Zeshin to the first Naikoku
leaves lying nearby; the reverse painted in ink and silver paint with a Kangyō Hakurankai (National Industrial Promotion Exhibition), held
sparrow flying above a stylized stream with sprigs of seri (Japanese in 1877. Designs based on the autumn custom of maple-viewing
parsley, Oenanthe javanica); signed in subori on the right, at the base were one of Zeshin’s favourite themes during the final fifteen years
of the rock, Zeshin 是真 with a kaō resembling the character kin 巾 of his long career: here he uses the range of special finishes he had
perfected during the preceding decades to produce an exceptionally
59.3cm × 39cm (23⅜in × 15⅜in) deep three-dimensional effect. Similar rough, rich textures, probably
emulating of Western oil painting, are also seen, for example, on the
With cloth-bound outer storage box (2) rocks in Zeshin’s panels of crayfish, exhibited in 1888, 1889, and 1890
(Gōke 1981b, pl. no. 3). Parts of the fireplace are executed using a
Provenance: carving technique also seen in Zeshin’s inrō made to resemble ancient
Misumi Hisashi Collection sticks of ink (see, for example, Nezu 2012, cat. nos. 93–96).
三隅悠 旧蔵
Sold in these Rooms, 10 November 2015, lot 7 A closely-related maki-e panel of this subject by Keishin, in the
collection of Zeshin’s eldest son Reisai (1850–1915), was reproduced
Exhibited: in a biography of Zeshin published in Kenchiku kōgei sōshi in
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2017–2018 June 1914 (Suzuki 1914).

Exhibited and Published: The kaō Zeshin added after his signature on this piece, in the form of
Nezu Bijutsukan (Nezu Museum) 2012, cat. no. 47 the character kin 巾, is seen on works dating from 1879 onward
(for other examples, see Earle and Gōke 1996, p. 30, [h]).
£150,000 - 200,000
JPY19,000,000 - 26,000,000
US$180,000 - 240,000

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