Page 101 - Bonhams Fine Japanese Art London Nov. 2019

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HAKUIN EKAKU (1685-1768)
HAKUE KANNON (WHITE-ROBED KANNON)
Edo period (1615-1868), mid-18th century
Kakejiku (hanging scroll), ink on paper in antique silk mounts, depicting
the bodhisattva Kannon clothed in white robes seated on a pile of
leaves, wearing her typical compassionate smile, at her right a branch
of willow in a vase standing on a rock, inscribed above Jigen shijujo
fukujukai muryo (The bodhisattva’s merciful eye watches over all living
things, a limitless ocean of happiness and long life), the words fukuju
(happiness and long life) written in larger characters, the painting of
Kannon sealed Hakuin and Ekaku, the inscription preceded by a seal
Rinzai seishu (The true Rinzai [Zen] succession) and concluding with
two unread seals; with a wood tomobako storage box, the exterior
inscribed Entsu daishi, Shoshukokushi shinhitsu (Kannon, an authentic
painting by Hakuin); the interior with a certification by Shiya Shoun
(also known as Genpo Sohan, 1874-1922), Abbot of Daitokuji Temple;
accompanied by a label recording that the present lot was exhibited in
Kumamoto in 1970 (see below).
Overall: 193cm x 42.2cm (76in x 16 5/8in);
image: 114.5cm x 34.5cm (45in x 13½in). (3).

£15,000 - 20,000
JPY2,000,000 - 2,600,000
US$18,000 - 25,000

Exhibited:
Kumamoto Nichinichi Shinbun Newspaper, Koso iboku ten
(Exhibition of Works in Ink by Buddhist Masters), Kumamoto City,
Tsuruya Department Store, 22-24 October, 1970.

For other Hakuin depictions of Kannon with similar iconography and
attributes, compare Audrey Yoshiko Seo and Stephen Addiss, The
Sound of One Hand: Paintings and Calligraphy by Zen Master Hakuin,
Boston, Shambhala Publications, 2010, pl. 2.7 and 2.8; the branch
of willow seen to the left of the composition can be used to ward off
disaster or illness, while the bodhisattva’s white robes and leaf or grass
mat—immortalized in a scroll by Kano Motonobu in the Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston—became favourite attributes during the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries.

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. FINE JAPANESE ART | 99