Page 149 - japanese and korean art Utterberg Collection Christie's March 22 2022

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TWO SQUARE EARTHENWARE DISHES WITH PINE-TREE
DESIGNS
KENZAN WARE (EDO PERIOD, 18TH CENTURY), FIRST DISH SIGNED LITERATURE:
KENZAN SEI SHO AND SEALED KENZAN AND SEI SHO; SECOND Tokyo National Museum, Rinpa (Tokyo: Tokyo National Museum,
SIGNED, DATED AND INSCRIBED ON THE BASE FUYO YOSHU 1972), pl. 296 (second dish).
KENZAN TOIN SHOKOSAI SHINSEI ZO UJI HOEI KANOTO-U HARU Andrew Pekarik, Japanese Ceramics from Prehistoric Times to the Present
(MADE IN THE SPRING OF 1711 BY THE HERMIT POTTER OF KYOTO,
KENZAN SHOKOSAI SHINSEI) (OGATA KENZAN; 1663-1743) (Southampton, NY: Parrish Art Museum, 1978), nos. 58a-b (both
dishes).
Each square dish with white-slip ground and painting in underglaze Hayashiya Seizo, ed., Ninsei, Kenzan, Kyoyaki, vol. 7 of Nihon no
iron oxide; the first painted with a grove of pines beneath a poem,
which reads: "To be fond of pines is to have the hardness of an iron toji (Japanese ceramics) (Tokyo: Chuo Koronsha, 1973), figs. 151-52
(second dish).
mind. Therefore, I tend them in front of my winding fence;" the Mitsuoka Tadanari and the Zauho Press, Edo Period I: Kyoyaki-Kyoto
second painted with a moss-covered pine tree; the paintings on each
dish framed by a single line on the inner surface; the exterior of the Ware, vol. 6 of Sekai toji zenshu (Tokyo: Shogakukan, 1975), fig. 29,
p. 217 (second dish).
second dish has simple latticework with oblong floral reserves in Shirasaki Hideo, ed., Teibon Kenzan shusaku hyakusen (Kenzan:
underglaze iron and the interior sides have stylized floral sprays in
line borders Selection of one hundred masterpieces) (Tokyo: Yomiuri
Shinbunsha, 1977), pl. 76 (second dish).
First 8Ω x 8Ω x 1 in. (21.6 x 21.6 x 2.9 cm.); second 8æ x 8æ x 1 in. Kawahara Masahiko, ed., Kenzan, Nihon no bijutsu 154 (Tokyo:
(22.2 x 22.2 x 2.9 cm.)
With wood boxes both signed and authenticated by the 15th Grand Shibundo, 1979), no. 55 (second dish).
Masahiko Kawahara, The Ceramic Art of Ogata Kenzan (Tokyo:
Tea Master of the Urasenke tea school, Hounsai Genshitsu (b. 1923), Kodansha International, 1985), pls. 95-96 (second dish).
and with kao(cursive monogram) (2)
Gotoh Museum, Kenzan no toji / Ceramics of Kenzan 1663-1743
$50,000-70,000 (Tokyo: Gotoh Museum, 1987), p. 111 (second dish).
Richard L. Wilson, The Art of Ogata Kenzan: Persona and Production
PROVENANCE: in Japanese Ceramics (New York and Tokyo: Weatherhill, 1991), figs.
Baron Hara Tomitaro (Sankei; 1868-1939), Yokohama 51-52 (second dish).
Setsu Iwao, Tokyo Richard Wilson and Ogasawara Saeko, Ogata Kenzan: Zen sakuhin
Jack C. Greene, New York to sono keifu, daiikkan zurokuhen (Vol.1, Catalogue volume of Ogata
Private collection, Japan Kenzan: His life and complete work) (Tokyo: Yuzankaku, 1992), fig.
22 (first dish) and fig. 20 (second dish).
EXHIBITED:
Tokyo National Museum, "Rinpa," 1972.10 (second dish with moss- Richard Wilson and Ogasawara Saeko, Kenzanyaki nyumon (Primer
covered pine) for Kenzan ware) (Tokyo: Yuzankaku, 1999), p. 63 (second dish).
Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, New York, "Japanese Ceramics Miho Museum, ed., Kenzan: Yusui to fuga no sekai / A World of Quietly
from Prehistoric Times to the Present," 1978.8.6-9.28 (both dishes) Refined Elegance (Shigaraki: Miho Museum, 2004), pl. 65 (second
Miho Museum, Shigaraki, "Kenzan: Yusui to fuga no sekai / A dish), pl. 78 (first dish).
World of Quietly Refined Elegance," 2004.9.1-12.15 (both dishes)
The plate with moss-covered pine tree (here, the second dish) is
a very rare example of dated Kenzan ware. It is inscribed with a
date in the spring of 1711, the very end of the period during which
Ogata Kenzan (1663-1743) operated his kiln in the Narutaki area,
the hills in the northwestern suburbs of Kyoto. There is one other
square dish with a similar date in a private collection in Japan.
The painterly pine tree is likely by Kenzan's hand, or by that of
his brother, Korin. Works such as this one from the late period
of the Narutaki kiln, with a single, isolated subject, show greater
abbreviation and immediacy than the earliest Kenzan wares. In
1712, Kenzan closed his kiln in the secluded outlying area--his
client base there may have dried up--and moved to the downtown
area.