Page 112 - Bonhams Fine Japanese Art London Nov. 2019

VARIOUS PROPERTIES
165 TP
ARTIST UNKNOWN The striking design of this lot, with a low band of ground or cloud at
THE NARROW IVY ROAD the left balanced by a central band at the right, appears to be remotely
Edo period (1615-1868), late 17th/early 18th century based on a famous pair of six-panel screens attributed to Tawaraya
A six-panel folding screen, ink and mineral colours over gold leaf on Sotatsu (circa 1570-1640), designated an Important Cultural Property
paper, a mass of ascending and descending vine stems and leaves and now in the Shokokuji Temple, Kyoto; see William Watson (ed.),
with stylized silver clouds against a dark green ground, unsigned. The Great Japan Exhibition: Art of the Edo Period, exhibition catalogue,
Overall: 165cm x 374cm (65in x 147¼in); London, Royal Academy of Arts, 1981, cat. no.19. That screen pair is
image: 147cm x 355.6cm (57 7/8in x 140in). a visualization of the Tsuta no hosomichi (Narrow Ivy Road), an episode
£10,000 - 15,000 from Chapter Nine of the tenth-century poetic narrative Ise monogatari
JPY1,300,000 - 2,000,000 (The Ise Tales) in which the hero, Ariwara Narihira, and his friends arrive
US$12,000 - 18,000 at Mount Utsu in Suruga, where they find the path is dark and all but
choked with ivy; the present screen offers a striking new imagining of
Provenance: the celebrated episode.
Eskenazi Ltd., London, 1998.
John J. Studzinski CBE, London.

For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
110 | BONHAMS please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue.