Page 78 - Japanese Art Nov 9 2017 London

128TP
ARTIST UNKNOWN, TOSA SCHOOL
A Pair of Six-panel Screens Depicting the Kamo Horse Race
Edo period (1615-1868), second half of the 17th century
Painted in ink and colours on gold paper, depicting a panorama of the
annual horse race at the Kamigamo (Upper Kamo) Shrine (see below)
with 12 mounted participants and numerous extravagantly dressed
spectators and revellers on both sides of the racetrack, including
courtiers, samurai, members of the townsman class and musicians,
amongst temples, shrines and viewing and performance platforms set
against a background of the Kamo River and distant hills interspersed
with gold clouds.
Each screen approx. 171.5cm x 370cm (67½in x 145¾in). (2).

£8,000 - 12,000
JPY1,200,000 - 1,800,000
US$11,000 - 16,000

For the closest published version of the Kamo horse race, compare a
pair of chubyobu (two-thirds size) screens in the Suntory Museum of
Art, dated by Sakakibara Satoru to the Kanbun era (1661-1673). The
Suntory screens have the same overall composition as the present lot,
with the horse track running from right to left across the ten central
panels, a torii gateway at far right and the buildings of the Kamigamo
Shrine confined to a small area at far top left. Other similarities include
the number and disposition of the horses, the two large viewing
platforms (although in the Suntory version only one of the viewing
parties has the luxury of an awning), and numerous aspects of both
the overall composition and the individual, closely observed scenes of
revelry. As Sakakibara notes, over time the religious and ceremonial
aspects of the Kamo races became less important and the shrine itself
consequently no longer needed to occupy the whole of the left-hand
screen as in earlier examples. Held every year on the fifth day of the
fifth month, the event became more of a straightforward entertainment,
as the present lively version attests; see Takeda Tsuneo and others,
Nihon byobu-e shusei (Compendium of Japanese Screen Painting),
vol. 13, Fuzokuga: Sairei, kabuki (Genre Painting: Ceremonies and
Kabuki), Tokyo, Kodansha, 1978, cat. nos. 27-28, 29-30 and p.95.

76 | BONHAMS 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.