japanese animal bronze & iron (edo & meiji period): 2009

Sunday, August 30, 2009

ANOTER MONKEY COLLECTOR....

Kagamibuta netsuke of a monkey posing as a collector by Seiju. (Unno Seiju Moritoshi, 1834-1896). Gold disk with shakudo, copper.

Covered Box with Monkey Posing as a Collector

by Unno Moritoshi (Japanese, 1834-1896) 1834-1896 (late Edo-Meiji)

made in copper, gold, silver, and shakudo

2 1/16 x 4 9/16 in. (5.2 x 11.6 cm)

Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891)

Japan, Edo period, c. 1835 Hanging scroll; ink and colors on silk

13.75 x 17.5 in. (35 x 44.2 cm.)

please go see this monkey (on the monkey page) and see how great the two little monkeys look alike...

A Large Animalier Bronze Basin
Meiji period (late 19th century), sealed Dai Nippon Genryusai Seishun zo
Cast in high relief with a frieze of animal heads in high relief and bodies in shallow relief: an elephant, stag, snarling tiger, wild boar, bison, ape and lion, the hooves forming the feet, details chiseled; the patina blackish brown with accents of reddish brown

19in. (48.3cm.) diameter; 9¾in. (24.7cm.) high

for more details clik here

PASS ME THE HONNEY

An Iron and Soft-Metal Incense Burner
Meiji period (late 19th century), signed Masaaki
The globular container iron set on three separately cast feet in the form of monkeys and applied with two additional monkeys that serve as the handles, the container also applied with shakudoand gilt wasps and fruiting branch and with wasps and nest on the opposite side, the domed cover applied with further gilded wasps, hammered with clouds, some pierced for the issuance of smoke, and fixed with a knop in the form of two monkeys at play; interior of the cover lined in silver and fitted with removable interior silver basin; inlaid gilt-metal seal in form of right half of lower signature character below signature chiseled on underside

6 3/8in. (16.2cm.) high

for more details clik here

ANOTHER BAT DAY

Tsuri-gōro or hanging incense burner in the form of a flying bat with half-folded wings. Of cast and cold-chiseled bronze, with a copper wire chain. Edo period, late 18th – early 19th century.

With a period wood storage box, inscribed on the exterior of the lid: Kōro, Kōmori or Incense Burner, Bat (Form); and on the side of the box inscribed: Kōmori Kōro or Bat (Form) Incense Burner.

Though bats were considered omens of good fortune in China, Edo period artists rarely sculpted them. By the late 19th and early 20th century, bats figure in paintings of the moon, and rarely in carved trays for sencha tea (c.f. Kagedo’s catalogue Breaking Light, numbers 59 – 62).

Modeled with the quirky realism common to Edo period bronzes, this rare incense burner must have been commissioned by an eccentric and affluent literati of the samurai class. Finely chiseled details render the fur across the neck, detail the open teeth, and tiny, curling feet. The assembled chain is woven from very fine copper wire. With its tensed wings, it would have been seen wreathed in incense as if darting suddenly through clouds.

1 5/8” high x 7 3/8” wide x 4 ½” long (dimensions of bat without hanging chain).

THUMBS UP

Koro or incense burner in the form of a hare crouching and looking upwards, its ears pointedly alert, of cast and cold chiseled bronze. A cloud form hinges the lid across the back. Late Muromachi–Momoyama Period, 16th century.

Probably admiring the moon, this hare has soft curving lines and extremely fine color. Bronze suiteki or water droppers in the form of rabbits with similarly erect ears were also cast in the 16th century

8" high x 5 3/16" x 3 5

TIGERRRRRR

Okimono in the form of a snarling tiger, of cast and cold chiseled akagane bronze. Edo Period, mid 19th century.
Edo Period depictions of tigers such as this mix the charm of the house cat which the Japanese knew firsthand with the ferocity of the larger but unfamiliar foreign beast

6 5/8" high x 8.75" x

DANCING BULL

Kōro or incense burner in the form of a large dancing bull carrying bundled brushwood on its back, of cast and cold chiseled bronze with gold eyes. Signed with a chiseled inscription on the back: Yokokawa Eikyū Saku...Kanazawa Jū, or Made by Yokokawa Eikyu of Kanazawa. Late Edo Period, circa 1825.

An extremely fine and large Edo bronze censor. The silky surface of the bull ripples with power, and contrasts with the treatment of the massively bundled wood.

13-5/8" high x 17-1/2" long x 11" deep.

OH MY DEER

Koro or incense burner in the form of a seated deer stretching its neck upwards and crying to the moon, the lid in the form of a reishi fungus of immortality which has fallen onto the deer's back, of cast and cold chiseled bronze.With a double storage box.

Edo Period, late 17th - early 18th century.

The reishi suggests immortality and long life, associations reinforced by the belief that deer were the companions of the god of longevity, Jurojin. Executed with great delicacy and feeling, the deer gracefully calls to the moon.

8.5" high x 5.5" wide x 3.75" deep.

BEAUTY QUEEN

Koro or incense burner in the form of a plump hare scratching its ear, of cast and cold chiseledakagane bronze with a mottled red benido patina. With a later piercework silver lid. Edo Period, early 19th century.

5" high x 6.5"

BIG BUNNY

Okimono in the form of an alarmed plump rabbit, of cast and cold chiseled bronze with touches of gilt. Unsigned. Late Edo Period, early 19th century.
The bronze and gilding have taken on a warm softness with age.

5" high x 4.5" long x 2 7/8" deep.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

SINGING BUNNY

Kōro or incense burner in the form of a fierce long eared hare. Of cast and cold chiseled bronze.

Edo period, early 19th century.

5 1/8” high x 7 ¾” long x 5 ½” wide.

MY PUPPY IS ON SHROOMS

Koro or incense burner in the form of a seated mastiff puppy, of cast and cold chiseled akaganebronze. An inscription chiseled on the reverse reads: Oba Zenjiro Yoshitsugu Saku or Made by Oba Zenjiro Yoshitsugu. Early Edo Period, 17th century.

This incense burner is modeled after a kara inu or foreign dog popular among the upper classes at the beginning of the 17th century.

10 1/8" high x 8 7/8" x 5.5".

BAT MOBIL

Tsuri-gōro or hanging incense burner in the form of a flying bat with out-stretched wings. Of cast and cold-chiseled bronze, with a bronze chain. Signed on the reverse with a chiseled signature by the artist: Yamashiro. Edo period, early 19th century.

With the tomobako or original box, inscribed on the exterior of the lid: Kōmori Tsuri O-gōro or Bat (Form) Hanging Incense Burner; and on the reverse of the lid signed: Okamashi Yamashiro orKettle Caster Yamashiro, and sealed:Yamashiro.

The exterior of the box bears a paper label which reads: Karakane Kōmori Tsuri-gōro or Bronze Bat (Form) Hanging Incense Burner.

Inside the box is a paper auction document inscribed: 83 Yen, Heizandō, with a round seal: Urikireor Sold; and dated:Shōwa Yon Nen Jū-gatsu, Jū-yon-ka, Makino-ke Kanju Shōgun Shozōhin Nyūsatsu Fudamoto Itō Heizandō or Shōwa (era) 4th Year (1929), October 14th, Sale of General Kanju of the Makino Family’s Collection (by) Itō Heizandō (Auction House). Itō Heizandō was located in Ryōgoku, Tokyo.

Made to suspend in a tokonoma alcove, this sleek, stylized bat would have been seen flying through incense as if through evening clouds.

1 ¾” high x 13 3/8” wide x 3 3/8” long

THE LORD OF THE BUNNY

Okimono or sculpture in the form of a quizzical hare. Of cast and cold chiseled bronze, the eyes inlaid in red bronze. Signed with a cast seal form signature on the reverse. Early Edo Period, 17th - early 18th century.

With a period cypress wood storage box, with an applied paper label on the reverse of the lid inscribed: Kodo Usagi Okimono, Keio San Nen, Naniwa Konoike Kei Yori Motomu, Sumiyama Kei or Antique Bronze Rabbit Sculpture, In 1867 Purchased from the Konoike Family of Naniwa, (Osaka), (and signed) Sumiyama Family (Master).

The Konoike family was a major Osaka merchant house during the Edo Period, founded by Yamanaka Shinroku (1570 – 1650). Originally the family fortune derived from the discovery in about 1600 of how to brew refined, clear sake (as opposed to the unfiltered milky type). They became major shippers of the rice wine to Edo (now Tokyo), eventually becoming major agents for sales of Daimyo tax rice. By 1650 they were wealthy and expanding into the banking business of loaning money to feudal lords. By 1700 the Konoike were among the wealthiest merchants in Osaka, and all of Japan.

Only feudal lords and extremely wealthy merchants possessed okimono in the 17th century. Objects such as this were extremely rare until the end of the Edo Period in the mid 19th century. Early examples such as this hare reveal a quirky, fierce quality that disappears by the mid 18th century. Later pieces become increasingly appealing, with sweeter less wild expressions.

6” high x 8” long x 4 7/8” deep.

EGGPLANTS LOVERS

Pair of kogo or incense containers in the form of nasubi or eggplants, one with a salamander in relief and one with a snail. Of uchidashi or hammered iron. One signed on the reverse of the box with the snail with a chiseled signature by the artist: Myochin Muneyoshi (Myochin Muneyoshi, died before 1781, per Robert E. Haynes' The Index of Japanese Sword Fittings and Associated Artists, volume 2, page 1244), and the other ornamented with a salamander signed on the reverse with a chiseled signature by the artist: Myochin Norimune Ason . Edo Period, mid 18th century.

2" high x 5" x 2.75", kogo with salamander. 2" high x 4.25" x 2 5/8", kogo with snail.

BURNING DOGY

Koro or incense burner in the form of a seated hound wearing a bell on a cord, of cast and cold chiseled yellow bronze. Early Edo Period, 17th century.
From the Azuchi-Momoyama into the Early Edo Period, it became fashionable for Daimyo to keep large numbers ofkara inu or foreign dogs of both the mastiff and hound types. Imported from the continent and from Europe many times, these foreign breeds were characterized by large bodies and dropped ears. Kept for both ornamental and hunting purposes,kara inu are depicted in byobu or decorative screens of the period but rarely became subjects for bronzes such as thiskoro. In the 19th century dogs became a popular subject in Japanese art, but the later depictions exclusively focus on native Japanese breeds such as the Akita inu or the imported Pekinese variety fashionable during Meiji.