Page 148 - Japanese Art Nov 9 2017 London

FOREWORD FROM THE COLLECTOR
A PRIVATE SELECTION OF FINE SATSUMA
AND OTHER BEAUTIFUL MEIJI OBJECTS
(Lots 250 - 277 SATSUMA EARTHENWARE)
(Lots 352 - 365 METALWORK AND OTHER WORKS OF ART)
I am grateful and fortunate that my interest in art and
painting was awakened during my school days by a
particularly dedicated art teacher, himself a painter.
Over the course of a long and challenging career,
engagement with works of art and beautiful objects
always gave me new energy and enabled me to think
creatively. My particular interest in the best Meiji objects survival for more than 120 years and I hope the same
began in 1970, when my future parents-in-law gave me
a very small ceramic vase. I was immediately fascinated
by its design and artistic quality, though I didn't yet know
that it was by Kinkozan. A subsequent search for similar
objects at art fairs and auctions in my home region
(more than 400 miles away from my future and current
wife) was entirely fruitless, but this setback only spurred
me on to greater efforts.
My first source of information was the available literature
on the broad outlines of Meiji-era Japanese art. I was
subsequently able to develop my knowledge over
a period of 45 years, first through the experience of
making my earliest acquisitions, and then through
contact with specialists, by seeing countless objects in
person and by further judicious acquisition of interesting
items. Among the most enjoyable aspects of Meiji art is
the way that one never ceases to learn something new
and that it is still possible to be surprised by something
one has never seen before. The very best 'golden-age'
Meiji objects represent a body of art that cannot be
reproduced and would be unaffordable today due to the
time-consuming manner of their design and production;
each of them is therefore unique.
146 | BONHAMS
It has given me the greatest pleasure to assemble
this extraordinary and diverse collection of very fine
Japanese objects. For reasons of advanced age, I
would now like to ensure that—with this first sale—my
treasures will be preserved by future collectors. This act
of passing from hand to hand has already ensured their
process will continue for a long time to come, to the
delight of successive generations of owners.
I would like to add that for years I have followed with
great interest Bonhams sales of Fine Japanese Art,
with their wonderful objects, detailed catalogue entries
and excellent photographs. Once I had decided to part
with my collection, Suzannah Yip and the Japanese
Department were for me the one and only possibility.
This has proved to be a very good decision: the
friendly advice prior to consignment; the subsequent
examination in situ by Suzannah Yip of all of the
objects under consideration for the auction; and the
highly competent appraisal, advice and selection of
objects were all excellent. The subsequent process
of consignment to auction was perfectly coordinated
and ran without a hitch, for which Suzannah and her
colleagues have my profound thanks!