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OGAWA HARITSU (RITSUO) (1663-1747) LITERATURE
A PAIR OF RARE WOOD SCULPTURES OF NIO Siegfried Bing, Le Japon Artistique, Vol. 2, p. 141
EDO PERIOD, LATE 17TH - EARLY 18TH Galeries de MM. Durand-Ruel, Collection Ch. Gillot, Objets d’Art
CENTURY, EACH SEALED RITSUO et Peintures d’Extreme-Orient (Paris, 1904), pp. 38 - 39.
In 1888 these sculptures were in the collection of English
小川破笠（1663 – 1747）、漆塗仁王立像 一対、江戸時
代、17世紀後期 -18世紀初期、銘 笠翁 collector Dr. Ernest Hart who wrote in Siegfried Bing’s Le
Japon Artistique that the sculptures were identified as being by
the kongorishiki figures are carved from dark-stained softwood Ritsuo. In 1904 when offered in the Paris sale, Galeries de MM.
with pigment and lacquer decoration to the skirts, each bears Durand-Ruel, the seals had become obscured and were dated
the seal Ritsuo in takamaki-e under the skirt, the figure of as Kamakura period. This dating was then followed when they
Misshaku kongo is open-mouthed whereas Naraen kongo has were next auctioned in Paris in 2008. Recently the obscured
his mouth closed, they symbolise the first and last syllables seals were discovered, revealing their true attribution after
of the Sanskrit alphabet, Ah and Un (Hum) thus forming over 100 years.
the opening and closing of the universe, the mantra of all For details of the signature and seals see Wrangham, E. A., The
existence: Om Index of Inro Artists (Northumberland, 1995), pp.211-213.
(2)
Each: 26.3 cm, 10⅓ in. high £ 80,000-100,000
€ 90,500-113,000 US$ 106,000-132,000
PROVENANCE
Dr. Ernest Hart, London,
Siegfried Bing, Paris,
Charles Gillot, Paris,
Auctioned by Maître Paul Chevallier for Galeries de MM.
Durand-Ruel, Paris, in February 1904,
Repurchased by Gillot’s widow
Ancienne Collection Charles Gillot (1853-1903), Christie’s,
Paris, 4 - 5 March 2008

Charles Gillot

78 SOTHEBY’S