Page 174 - Japanese Art Nov 9 2017 London

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A COMPLETE SET OF SATSUMA PLATES
REPRESENTING THE 12 MONTHS
By Kinkozan, Meiji era (1868-1912), late 19th/early 20th century
Each decorated in enamels and gilt with a circular panel enclosing
a figural or genre scene associated with one of the 12 months on a
ground bordered by a band of dense millefleurs, each plate with two
overlapping shikishi (square-shaped poem-cards) indicating the name
of the month and its associated scene as below:

1) Shogatsu: Manzai (First month: manzai dancers), manzai dancers
entertaining a mother and her daughter in front of their house in the
New Year;

2) Nigatsu: Umemi (Second month: plum-blossom viewing), a samurai
family and a chajin (tea master) or poet in a garden, flowering plum
trees on the lakeshore;

3) Sangatsu: Sakurami (Third month: cherry-blossom-viewing), a lady
and her servant strolling along the shores of a lake admiring flowering
cherry blossoms as itinerant entertainers pass by;

4) Shigatsu: Kanbutsu (Fourth month: the Buddha’s birthday festival, (Fourth month) (Third month)
held on the eighth day), a monk within a temple’s precincts, women
and children in the foreground, one child holding an oke (bucket) filled
with sweet tea for baptizing Buddha’s head;

5) Gogatsu: Sekku (Fifth month: Boys’ Festival, held on the fifth day),
a boy running with a banner to his mother and a servant talking to a
courier delivering a kabuto (helmet), several banners in the background
with designs associated with the festival;

6) Rokugatsu: Sanno Matsuri (Sixth month: Sanno Festival), two ujiko
(pilgrims) standing by a tall banner inscribed Kanda Daimyojin ujiko
renchu (a group of pilgrims from the Kanda Shrine), two dashi (festival
floats) from the Sanno Festival, one of the largest Shinto festivals in
Edo, in the background on the other side of the river;

7) Shichigatsu: Tanabata (Seventh month: Tanabata Festival held on
the seventh day), two women and two children tying tanzaku (poem-
slip) decorations to stalks of sasa (bamboo);

8) Hachigatsu: Kangetsu (Eighth month: the Mid-Autumn Festival on
the 15th day), a family strolling on the shores of a lake during moon-
viewing, rice cakes and a vase of autumnal plants on a stand behind
them;

9) Kugatsu: Kikuen (Ninth month: chrysanthemum garden), a samurai (Eighth month) (Seventh month)
family admiring a variety of fenced chrysanthemums, alluding to the
Choyo no sekku (Chrysanthemum Festival), held on the ninth day;

10) Jugatsu: Momijimi (Tenth month: maple-viewing), women from a
wealthy household and servants, one lady exclaiming surprise at a
drunken gesticulating reveller;

11) Juichigatsu: Tori-no-ichi (Eleventh month: the Tori-no-ichi fair, held
on a tori [rooster] day), people bringing their old kumade (bamboo
rake) charms decorated with masks of Ofuku, Goddess of Mirth, and
exchanging them for new ones symbolising the ‘raking in’ of wealth
and good fortune;

12) Junigatsu: Yukiasobi (Twelfth month: snow play), figures on the
snow-covered banks of a river, thatched buildings nestled beneath a
spreading pine on the right, two ladies walking, one girl rolling a large
snowball in the foreground and another girl carrying a snow rabbit on a
tray in front of a snow model of Daruma.

Each plate signed on the base with an impressed seal
Kinkozan tsukuru.

Each plate approx. 27cm (10 5/8in) diam. (12). (Twelfth month) (Eleventh month)

£10,000 - 15,000 For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
JPY1,500,000 - 2,200,000 please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue.
US$13,000 - 20,000