Page 215 - japanese and korean art Utterberg Collection Christie's March 22 2022

What is supremely appealing about this iron dragon is the fierceness Jizai okimono, articulated figures, in iron include dragons, snakes,
of its face and the remarkable details of its body. The head of this shachi (imaginary fish with tiger head), carp, lobsters, crabs and
dragon shows fine details worked in uchidashi (translate literally insects. Their distinctive features are their naturalism and mobility.
as “hammered”), known as special technique for creating three- Sculpted animals are also found in other metals, ivory or wood. Of
dimensional, sculptural works from a thin iron sheet by hammering. them all, there are more models of dragons because they symbolize
The Myochin family of armorers was particularly skilled at this the most powerful imaginary animal. For warriors displaying their
technique of uchidashi and the details on the present lot suggest that military prowess, dragons were the ideal motif to decorate their
this dragon was made by a highly skilled Myochin artist from Edo arms and armor.
period.
The earliest known jizai dragon is in the Tokyo National Museum,
Myochin Munesuke (1642-c. 1735), whose name appears on the lot formerly in the Anderson Collection in England and, later, the
here, aggrandized his lineage with the Myochin rekidai zofuku, a list Lundgren Collection in Sweden. There are inscriptions under the
of supposed ancestors tracing back several centuries. The Myochin chin giving the date of 1713 (the third year of the Shotoku era) and
flourished, founding branch schools in the provinces. By the an artist’s signature, Myochin Muneaki. Judging from such other
middle Edo period, the Myochin were confident enough to style makers’ names as Myochin Yoshihisa and Myochin Nobumasa
themselves as”On katchu no kiwame-dokoro, Nippon yuitsu no katchu no inscribed on jizai dragons, it is clear that armorers of the Myochin
ryoko,” or “official appraisers of armour, the best in Japan.” There school made a number of jizai dragons during the Edo period.
were successive generations of skilled armourers using the name Many of these Myochin armorers were retained by warrior lords
Munesuke, though the work attributed to the first of that line may (daimyo), so it is natural that they were responsible for their favored
be considered the finest. subject, dragons, in sculptural form.

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