Page 55 - Bonhams Royal Collection Fine Japanese Art London Nov. 2019
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           SHIBATA ZESHIN 柴田是真 (1807–1891)
           TSUBA (SWORD GUARD) WITH RED-PEPPER DESIGN
           唐辛子図蒔絵喰出鐔
           Meiji era (1868–1912), circa 1870–1890
           A hamidashi-tsuba (hand guard for a dagger) formed from layers of   Exhibited and Published:
           paper covered in dark grey-brown textured tetsusabi-nuri, further   Nezu Bijutsukan (Nezu Museum) 2012, cat. no. 46
           lacquered to mimic the semegane (copper shims in the central
           opening) and the marks left by the seppa (washers), the front, side,   £5,000 - 7,000
           and reverse with a dried red chilli pepper and its stalk in red lacquer   JPY650,000 - 900,000
           and shibuichi-nuri, at the top a rat’s footprints in raised tetsusabi-nuri;   US$6,100 - 8,500
           signed in scratched characters to the left of the central opening Zeshin
           是真                                                In his characteristically playful manner Zeshin depicts a chilli pepper,
                                                             formerly used to keep rats away from stored foodstuffs, and the
           5.4cm × 4.1cm × 0.7cm (2⅛in × 1⅝in × ¼in)         footprint of a fleeing rat; he also used the pepper motif on a complete
                                                             sword-mounting made for the superstar storyteller San’yūtei Enchō
           With fitted wood storage box labelled Zeshin-ō saku tōgarashi maki-e   (1839–1900; see Earle and Gōke 1996, cat. no. 75). According to
           tsuba 是真翁作 唐辛子蒔絵鍔 (Sword guard with a chilli pepper in   leading Zeshin scholar Gōke Tadaomi, a secondary significance of
           maki-e by the venerable Zeshin) (2)               the chilli-pepper motif might be that it alludes to the proverb Keshi ga
                                                             karakerya tōgarashi ga inkyo suru (If the mustard-seed is too strong,
           Exhibited:                                        the chilli’s taste is smothered) and the related word keshikaran, which
           Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2017–2018            means something like ‘uncouth’, ‘uncool’ or ‘non-iki’ (Earle and
                                                             Gōke 1996, p. 20); Zeshin ironically conveys iki (coolness) through an
           Provenance:                                       emblem of un-coolness, so to speak.
           Misumi Hisashi Collection
           三隅悠 旧蔵
           Sold in these Rooms, 5 November 2014, lot 3

           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    |  53
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