Page 38 - Bonhams September 11 2018 New York Japanese & Korean Works of Art

1079
MARUYAMA OKYO (1733-1795)
Yang Guifei
Edo period (1615-1868), dated 1794
Hanging scroll, ink and colors on silk,
depicting the Chinese beauty seated at a
red-lacquer table by blossoming peonies
and a willow, her pale skin set off against
her luxuriously decorated robes, her hair
gathered up on top of her head under a
phoenix crown, the fan in her left decorated
with a landscape and sailing vessel, dated
Kinoe-tora chuto utsusu (Drawn in midwinter
1794), signed Okyo and sealed Okyo no in
With a wood tomobako storage box
inscribed on the inside of the lid Okyo hitsu
shinseki soinai, (Genuine work by Okyo),
dated Mizunoe-tatsu shoto (early winter,
1832), signed Seishukan Oritsu sho and
sealed Oritsu, and with additional attestation
dated and signed Maruyama Oshin tei, and
sealed Oshin no in
53 1/4 x 27 3/8in (135.3 x 69.5cm)

$12,000 - 18,000

Provenance
Acquired in the 1960s and thence by
descent to the present owner

Okyo was known to have produced several
paintings of Chinese beauties throughout
his lifetime. According to Timothy Clark,
there developed in the mid-18th century
in Kyoto, a taste for paintings of classical
Chinese beauties. Okyo and his followers
capitalized on this receptive atmosphere and
became well known for their Chinese beauty
paintings, often of similar composition. For
another example of a portrait of Yang Guifei
by Okyo, see Hyogo Kenritsu Hakubutsukan,
Maruyama Okyo ten (Special Exhibition:
Maruyama Okyo), Hyogo Prefectural Museum
of History, 1995, no. 31, and reproduced
in Timothy Clark, “Japanese Paintings of
Chinese Beauties in the Late Edo Period”
in Miyako Murase and Judith G. Smith,
eds., The Arts of Japan: An International
Symposium, Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, 2000, fig. 3, p. 226.

The beauty Yang Guifei (719-756) was the
favorite consort of the Tang dynasty Emperor
Xuangong (r. 712-756). His infatuation with
her and his subsequent neglect of his official
duties were said to have led to the downfall
of his court in 755.

Maruyama Oshin (1790-1783) and Maruyama
Oritsu (1817-1875) were both grandsons of
and painters in the style of Okyo. known for
authenticating their grandfather’s work.

1079

FINE JAPANESE AND KOREAN ART | 37