Page 67 - Japanese Art Nov 9 2017 London

(114 - jikusaki) FINE JAPANESE ART | 65

114 *

SHOJI CHIKUSHIN (1855-1936), WITH SCROLL ENDS
BY SHOJI HOSHIN (1898-1993)
Kaguyahime in a Bamboo Stem
Showa era (1926-1989), 1930
Kakejiku (vertical hanging scroll), ink, colours and gold on silk without
additional silk mounts, depicting Kaguyahime (the Shining Princess)
seen inside a broken stem of bamboo, signed Chikushin 竹真 with a
seal, the jikusaki of red lacquer decorated in gold lacquer with bamboo
leaves; with a wood tomobako storage box inscribed outside in gold
on a red label Taketori monogatari zu 竹取物語図 (Illustration from
The Tale of a Bamboo Cutter), inscribed inside Showa gonen seika
Kakan’an Chikushin hitsu maki-e jiku Hoshin tsukuru 昭和五年盛夏
可寛菴竹真筆 蒔絵軸芳真造 (Brushed by Kakan’an Chikushin
in May 1930, the maki-e jiku by Hoshin), with seal Hoshin 芳真.
Overall: 188cm x 47cm (74in x 18½in);
image: 188cm x 41cm (74in x 16 1/8in). (2).

£7,000 - 8,000
JPY1,000,000 - 1,200,000
US$9,200 - 11,000

The tenth-century Taketori monogatari (The Tale of a Bamboo Cutter)
tells of an elderly, childless basket maker who comes across a shining
bamboo stalk and cuts it open to find a tiny baby girl inside. He takes
the baby home to his wife and they bring her up as their own child,
naming her Kaguyahime, ‘Princess Shining’. Every time the basket
maker cuts a stalk of bamboo he finds a nugget of gold inside, quickly
becoming a rich old man while Kaguyahime grows into a young
woman whose peerless beauty attracts five princes to vie for her
hand. She sets each of them an impossible task and after they have all
failed the emperor himself seeks to make her his consort, but he too
is rejected. It then emerges that Kaguyahime has descended to earth
from the moon, to which she eventually returns, accompanied by a
retinue of her heavenly sisters.

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.