Estimate
€ 1.500 - 2.000
Sold
€ 1.875
The price includes buyer's premium
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Information
dimensions 7.2 x 7.5 x 0.45 cm
Made of sentoku, slightly oval nade-maru-gata with border rising from the slightly rounded bottom. The depiction is made on a smooth surface and polished with spots in order to underline some parts of the scene, the figure is carved out from the background in a new style of the Shishiai-bori school, i.e. a raised carving in which the subject emerges from the background. The figure represents the eighth-century Chinese poet Kakimoto Hitomaro, the father of Japanese poetry and its emblem, while he is studying a long calligraphic scroll, his focused face and hieratic figure are perfectly depicted, the details of the headdress and brocade robe are made of gold (small missing parts). The outline is formed by bamboo leaves engraved with katakiri-bori. On the ura a large bamboo trunk with a knot is very finely carved with katakiri-bori, "take-fushi" and, around it, tufts of bamboo leaves. The mei is fine, featuring delicate yet personal characters. In the mid 18th century, the Nara school had very promising artists, including Sugiura Joi, who invented the new "shishiai bori" style: Toshitsugu was one of several members who would use this style. The artist is mentioned in various works including Joly and Gunsaulus. As usual, the meaning of the Japanese tsuba is hidden: could the association of the great poet with bamboo, which represents perseverance and strength for Chinese people, allude to the great Force of Poetry? Provenance: Collection R. B. Caldwell Collection, 1994.
Made of sentoku, slightly oval nade-maru-gata with border rising from the slightly rounded bottom. The depiction is made on a smooth surface and polished with spots in order to underline some parts of the scene, the figure is carved out from the background in a new style of the Shishiai-bori school, i.e. a raised carving in which the subject emerges from the background. The figure represents the eighth-century Chinese poet Kakimoto Hitomaro, the father of Japanese poetry and its emblem, while he is studying a long calligraphic scroll, his focused face and hieratic figure are perfectly depicted, the details of the headdress and brocade robe are made of gold (small missing parts). The outline is formed by bamboo leaves engraved with katakiri-bori. On the ura a large bamboo trunk with a knot is very finely carved with katakiri-bori, "take-fushi" and, around it, tufts of bamboo leaves. The mei is fine, featuring delicate yet personal characters. In the mid 18th century, the Nara school had very promising artists, including Sugiura Joi, who invented the new "shishiai bori" style: Toshitsugu was one of several members who would use this style. The artist is mentioned in various works including Joly and Gunsaulus. As usual, the meaning of the Japanese tsuba is hidden: could the association of the great poet with bamboo, which represents perseverance and strength for Chinese people, allude to the great Force of Poetry? Provenance: Collection R. B. Caldwell Collection, 1994.