Page 65 - Japanese Art Nov 9 2017 London

111 * FINE JAPANESE ART | 63

SHIBATA ZESHIN (1807-1891)
Meiji era (1868-1912), circa 1887
Kakejiku (vertical hanging scroll), ink and colours on silk mounted in
silk, depicting Jurojin seated in front of a rock encrusted with emblems
of longevity (peaches, reishi fungus), and attended by a crane and
five other venerable figures in Chinese garb, one of them drinking
from a huge lacquer sake cup, another holding a sake gourd and
bowl, and another in the foreground, perhaps Ebisu, with a fishing
rod and minogame (hairy-tailed tortoise of longevity), signed Gyonen
hachijuichi-o Zeshin 行年八十一翁是真 (Zeshin, aged 81) with a
seal Tairyukyo 対柳居; with a wood tomobako storage box inscribed
outside Kotobuki no zu 壽之圖 (Picture of Jurojin) and inscribed inside
Meiji kanoe-tora toshi hachijuyon-o Tairyukyo Zeshin 明治庚寅年八
十四翁対柳居是真 (Tairyukyo Zeshin, aged 84, 1890) followed by a
kao in the form of the character kin 巾 (cloth). Overall: 223cm x 79cm
(87¾in x 31in); image: 136cm x 55.3cm (53½in x 21¾in). (2).

£5,000 - 8,000
JPY740,000 - 1,200,000
US$6,600 - 11,000

112 *

SHIBATA ZESHIN (1807-1891)
Shoki and Demon
Meiji era (1868-1912), circa 1886
Kakejiku (vertical hanging scroll), ink, colours and gold on silk, in silk
mounts, depicting Shoki the Demon-Queller within a roundel against a
red background sprinkled with gold paint glowering down to his right
at an oni (demon) which flees in terror to the bottom left corner of the
scroll, signed Zeshin 是真 with a pot-shaped seal Zeshin 是真; with a
double wood tomobako storage box, the inner box inscribed outside
Enso Shoki no zu 円窓鍾馗之図 (Picture of Shoki in a Roundel), signed
inside Gyonen hachiju-o Zeshin ga 行年八十翁是真画 (Painted by
Zeshin, aged 80) and with an attestation by Shoji Hoshin. (1898-1993).
Overall: 196cm x 57cm (77 1/8in x 22½in); image: 121cm x 39cm
(47 5/8in x 15 3/8in). (4).

£15,000 - 20,000
JPY2,200,000 - 3,000,000
US$20,000 - 26,000

For other examples of this favourite Zeshin subject—some of them
parts of sets of the Gosekku (Five Great Festivals)—see Shioda Shin
鹽田真, Zeshin-o gakan 是真翁畫鑑 (An Illustrated Survey of the
Venerable Zeshin), Tokyo, Gahosha 畫報社, 1908, unpaginated; Goke
Tadaomi 郷家忠臣, Shibata Zeshin meihinshu: Bakumatsu kaikaki no
shikko kaiga 柴田是真名品集：幕末開花期の漆工絵画 (Lacquer and
Painting in Late Edo and Early Meiji: A Collection of Masterworks by
Shibata Zeshin), Tokyo: Gakushu Kenkyusha 学習研究社, 1981, cat.
no. 264; Grace Tsumugi Japanese Art, Japanese Works of Art, 2014,
cat. no. 1; and our own catalogue of The Misumi Collection: Important
Works of Lacquer Art and Paintings: Part III, 8 November 2017, lot 6.

112

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.