Page 69 - Bonhams May 16, 2019 London Japanese Art

(interior of lid)

93
AN UNUSUAL HINOKI RECTANGULAR (JAPANESE CEDAR) kinoe-tora year [1914], beneath the south window in the Shonami
WOOD BUNKO (DOCUMENT BOX) AND COVER Temple in Nara) with a kao and seal; together with an outer wood
By Kano Tessai (1845-1925), dated 1914 storage box. 16.5cm x 45cm x 33cm (6½in x 17¾in x 13in). (4).
The exterior of the lid and all four sides boldly carved with 17 ancient
gigaku theatre masks, rendered in high relief with details in colour £8,000 - 12,000
pigments, the interior of the cover similarly decorated with the masks JPY1,200,000 - 1,700,000
of Daikoku and Ebisu accompanied with their respective attributes; US$10,000 - 16,000
signed on the outside from right to left: Yoshinoyama Zaodo jumotsu
bu gi gakumen junanashu kinoe-tora shoshun Nanto Shonami’in
nansoka Yuigadokusonan Tessai ... mosu (Yuigadokusoan Tessai Born to a netsuke artist’s family in Gifu, Kano Tessai studied painting
... copied 17 bugaku and gigaku dance masks belonging to the and wood carving in Kyoto and Nagasaki, becoming a priest for a time
Zao Hall in Yoshino Mountain in spring of the kinoe-tora year [1914] before returning to secular life in 1868. He opened his own business in
beneath the south window of Shonami’in in Nara) with a kao and seal; Tokyo in 1872 and participated in the second, third and fourth Naikoku
signed on the inside of the cover Yuigadokusonan Tessai ... mosu Kangyo Hakurankai (National Industrial Promotion Exhibitions) in 1881,
(Yuigadokusonan Tessai ... copied) with a kao; with a wood tomobako 1890 and 1895. He also assisted the Americans Ernest Fenollosa and
storage box inscribed on the outside of the lid Bunko kinoe-tora Okakura Tenshin with their surveys of classic temple art in Kyoto and
shoshun Nanto Shonami’in nansoka Yuiga Dokusoanshu Tessai mosu Nara, where he spent his later years. His copies of gigaku and other
(Tessai, master of Yuigadokuso’an, copied in the spring of the ancient masks in the Mine Yakushido Hall of the Horyuji Temple are in
the collection of the Seikado Bunko Art Museum, Tokyo.

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 | 67