Page 20 - Christie's The Joseph Collection of Japanese Art

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A FINE LACQUER KODANSU [INCENSE CABINET] This lavish, elaborately decorated cabinet depicts the beautiful and well-known
DEPICTING SCENES OF NIKKO sites of Nikko in autumn. The impressive Kegon Falls, listed as one of Nihon
Hakkei [Eight Views of Japan] in 1927 and designated an Important Cultural
EDO - MEIJI PERIOD (19TH CENTURY)
Property today, are rendered elegantly with maple and fading mist. The Nikko
日光東照宮図蒔絵香箪笥
Toshogu, depicted to the top and front panels, enshrines Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-
江戸-明治時代（19世紀） 1616), the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate that ruled Japan for over 250 years.
The rectangular cabinet with angled corners and a hinged door opening to reveal It was initially built in 1617 and enlarged during the time of the third shogunate
three small drawers, decorated overall in gold, black, red and silver hiramaki-e, Iemitsu (1604-1651), and is now part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, ‘Shrines
takamaki-e, togidashi, kinpun and inlaid in mother-of-pearl on a fne kinji ground,
and Temples of Nikko’. The Yomeimon Gate depicted on the top panel is one of the
with various aspects of Nikko, the top panel depicting the Yomeimon Gate of the
most renowned architectural structures in the Toshogu shrine and designated a
Toshogu shrine, the door depicting a further view of the shrine with the Gojunoto
National Treasure. This lavish gate is decorated with around four hundred carvings
[fve-story pagoda] and the Kamijinko warehouse, the side panels with the sacred
and also called Higurashi mon that means the gate at which people look all day
Shinkyo bridge over the cascading Daiya River and the Kanmangafuchi Abyss, the
back panel with the Kegon Falls, the door opening to reveal three small drawers with and never tire. The Gojunoto [fve-story pagoda] and the Kamijinko [upper sacred
the Ryuzu Falls and autumn maple, the interior of the drawers and the base with storehouse], depicted on the cabinet door, are both designated Important Cultural
nashiji, silver door lock, hinges and handles Properties. The details are superbly rendered here, including the renowned
carvings on the gable of two stylised elephants by Kano Tanyu (1602-74), known
11 x 8 x 10cm.
as ‘imaginary elephants’ since the artist never saw an actual elephant.
£20,000-30,000 $34,000-51,000
€25,000-37,000
PROVENANCE:
Eskenazi Ltd., London

(side views)
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