Lot 8*
Shibata Zeshin 柴田是真 (1807–1891) ALBUM OF URUSHI-E (LACQUER PAINTINGS) 漆絵画帳 Meiji era (1868–1912), circa 1881
10 November 2015, 13:00 GMT
London, New Bond StreetSold for £108,100 inc. premium
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Find your local specialistShibata Zeshin 柴田是真 (1807–1891) ALBUM OF URUSHI-E (LACQUER PAINTINGS) 漆絵画帳
Meiji era (1868–1912), circa 1881
An album of 18 urushi-e paintings in an album bound in orihon (concertina) style, the cover of silk brocade with woven with roundels depicting fabulous beasts and birds, the two endpapers painted in urushi-e with chidori, bamboo grass, and waves on a gold-splashed background, the paintings as follows:
1) A branch of plum against a red sky, painted on a fan leaf
2) The famous two rocks at Futamigaura, a place visited by Zeshin in 1875 and frequently painted by him thereafter (see Earle 1996, p. 46, Gōke 1981, p. 187, reproducing a sketch of the rocks, and Shioda 1908, unpaginated, a painting of the same subject)
3) A waterfall, pine, and sheer cliff; for another example of this subject, one of Zeshin's urushi-e album favourites, see for example Gōke 1981, pl. no. 176, in an album dated to 1882.
4) Clams and seaweed
5) A collection of curious rocks
6) A ferocious tiger pursuing fleeing its long-tailed prey over the edge of a precipice; for a similar treatment of this subject compare Yasumura 2009, cat. no. J-21.1, an album leaf also dated to 1881.
7) An anchor and sea gulls by the shore; for another depiction of an anchor in a lacquer album painting see Earle 1996, cat. no. 76.15
8) Bullrushes, rocks, and a water-fowl
9) Sailing boats by a pine-clad hill
10) An enju (pagoda tree, Styphnolobium japonicum) and bird
11) A bear and two sawagani (freshwater crabs, Geothelphusa dehaani)
12) A herdboy and ox
13) Grapes hanging from a branch of vine
14) A large carp and two smaller carp swimming by weeds
15) A bird sitting on a bamboo water conduit from which water splashes onto a rock
16) A mouse peeping out from a hole in a damaged plaster wall
17) A kakashi (scarecrow) in the form of an archer in a field of rice with five dragonflies, two of them resting on the arrow
18) Mount Fuji with two pines
The first painting signed Gyōnen shichijūgo-sō Zeshin 行年七十五叟 是真 (Zeshin, aged 75) with seal Shin 真; the other paintings each signed Zeshin 是真 and variously sealed Shin 真, Zeshin 是真, Ze 是, Koma 古満, etc.
The cover inscribed in black lacquer on a gold-paper slip Urushi-e chō 漆画帳 (Album of urushi-e)
Overall: 10.6 × 13.2 × 2 cm (4 1/8 × 5¼ × ¾ in.)
Each painting: 8.6 × 11 cm (3 3/8 × 4 3/8 in.)
Fitted wood storage box (2)
Provenance
Sotheby's London, 9 May 1973, lot no. 202
Christie's New York, 29 March 2005, lot no. 239
Exhibited and Published
Nezu Bijutsukan 2012, cat. no. 113
An album of 18 urushi-e paintings in an album bound in orihon (concertina) style, the cover of silk brocade with woven with roundels depicting fabulous beasts and birds, the two endpapers painted in urushi-e with chidori, bamboo grass, and waves on a gold-splashed background, the paintings as follows:
1) A branch of plum against a red sky, painted on a fan leaf
2) The famous two rocks at Futamigaura, a place visited by Zeshin in 1875 and frequently painted by him thereafter (see Earle 1996, p. 46, Gōke 1981, p. 187, reproducing a sketch of the rocks, and Shioda 1908, unpaginated, a painting of the same subject)
3) A waterfall, pine, and sheer cliff; for another example of this subject, one of Zeshin's urushi-e album favourites, see for example Gōke 1981, pl. no. 176, in an album dated to 1882.
4) Clams and seaweed
5) A collection of curious rocks
6) A ferocious tiger pursuing fleeing its long-tailed prey over the edge of a precipice; for a similar treatment of this subject compare Yasumura 2009, cat. no. J-21.1, an album leaf also dated to 1881.
7) An anchor and sea gulls by the shore; for another depiction of an anchor in a lacquer album painting see Earle 1996, cat. no. 76.15
8) Bullrushes, rocks, and a water-fowl
9) Sailing boats by a pine-clad hill
10) An enju (pagoda tree, Styphnolobium japonicum) and bird
11) A bear and two sawagani (freshwater crabs, Geothelphusa dehaani)
12) A herdboy and ox
13) Grapes hanging from a branch of vine
14) A large carp and two smaller carp swimming by weeds
15) A bird sitting on a bamboo water conduit from which water splashes onto a rock
16) A mouse peeping out from a hole in a damaged plaster wall
17) A kakashi (scarecrow) in the form of an archer in a field of rice with five dragonflies, two of them resting on the arrow
18) Mount Fuji with two pines
The first painting signed Gyōnen shichijūgo-sō Zeshin 行年七十五叟 是真 (Zeshin, aged 75) with seal Shin 真; the other paintings each signed Zeshin 是真 and variously sealed Shin 真, Zeshin 是真, Ze 是, Koma 古満, etc.
The cover inscribed in black lacquer on a gold-paper slip Urushi-e chō 漆画帳 (Album of urushi-e)
Overall: 10.6 × 13.2 × 2 cm (4 1/8 × 5¼ × ¾ in.)
Each painting: 8.6 × 11 cm (3 3/8 × 4 3/8 in.)
Fitted wood storage box (2)
Provenance
Sotheby's London, 9 May 1973, lot no. 202
Christie's New York, 29 March 2005, lot no. 239
Exhibited and Published
Nezu Bijutsukan 2012, cat. no. 113
