Page 10 - The Meiji Aesthetic Christie's Hong Kong.pdf

Insects

The dragonfy, cicada, butterfy, praying mantis, beetle and grasshopper are popular
themes of jizai sculpture, often made of different types of metal. The earliest dated
example of an articulated insect is the 1753 iron butterfy by Myochin Muneyasu
in the Okura Shukokan Museum of Fine Arts, Tokyo. It demonstrates a pure and
rather simplifed beauty compared to the more elaborate and realistic style of those
made in later periods.

Since the Heian period (794–1185), the butterfy has been an important motif in
Japanese art and is emblematic of spiritual power. The brocade wrappers of a set of
twelfth-century Buddhist sutras dedicated by Retired Emperor Toba (r. 1107–23)
to Jingo-ji Temple are applied with butterfy-shaped metal bosses. In China, the
butterfy, hu 蝴 is a homophone for fu 福, “blessings”, and fu 富, “riches”, with
associated connotations of longevity.
The dragonfy, qing 蜻, relates to qing 清, “purity”, and qing 慶, “celebration”. In
Japan, the dragonfy, tonbo 蜻蛉, has an alternate reading of katsumushi 勝虫, which
literally means “victorious insect”. The dragonfy is a favored motif for samurai as a
symbol of victory and good luck.

昆蟲

自在雕塑常以昆蟲為題材，諸如蜻蜓、蟬、蝴蝶、螳螂、甲蟲及蚱蜢，每件
作品慣以多種金屬材料合製。史上首件有記錄的自在昆蟲作品為一鐵蝴蝶，
由明珍紀宗安製於1735年，曾展出於東京大倉集古館，造型寫意簡煉，有別
於後期的寫實風格。

自平安時代（794-1185年）以降，蝴蝶一直被視為日本美學的重要符號，據
稱具有神聖力量。公元十二世紀，鳥羽天皇（1107-23年在位）為神護寺施
造一套佛經，錦布上附有蝴蝶形金屬飾件。蝴蝶在中國文化寓意吉祥，
「蝴」與「福」及「富」諧音，象徵福祿富貴，兼喻長壽。

蜻蜓日文名「蜻蛉」，屬「勝蟲」，引伸勝利之意，深得武士階級喜愛，常
用於裝飾盔甲，祈求報捷。