Lot 11*
Shibata Zeshin 柴田是真 (1807-1891) URUSHI-E (LACQUER PAINTING) OF A POMEGRANATE BRANCH, FRUIT ON A TRAY, AND A WATER PITCHER 柘榴水瓶図額装漆絵 Meiji era (1868-1912), circa 1878
5 November 2014, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond StreetSold for £31,250 inc. premium
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Shibata Zeshin 柴田是真 (1807-1891) URUSHI-E (LACQUER PAINTING) OF A POMEGRANATE BRANCH, FRUIT ON A TRAY, AND A WATER PITCHER 柘榴水瓶図額装漆絵
Meiji era (1868-1912), circa 1878
Lacquer on paper, mounted as an album leaf and framed, depicting a pomegranate with its flowering branch resting on a seigaibon (circular metal serving tray) made from the alloy of copper and tin known as sahari, with a Chinese-style bronze mizutsugi (ewer) cast with low-relief ornament of hō-ō (phoenixes), these motifs executed in urushi in combination with a variety of kawari-nuri (special techniques) to convey the textures of the various utensils
Signed Gyōnen nanajūni Zeshin 行年七十二是真 (Zeshin, aged 72) with seal Tairyūkyo 対柳居
Overall 53.7 × 58.2 cm (21 1/8 × 22 7/8 in.)
Image 31.9 × 40.4 cm (12½ × 15 7/8 in.)
With wooden storage box
Exhibited and published: Nezu Bijutsukan 2012, no. 123
(2).
Lacquer on paper, mounted as an album leaf and framed, depicting a pomegranate with its flowering branch resting on a seigaibon (circular metal serving tray) made from the alloy of copper and tin known as sahari, with a Chinese-style bronze mizutsugi (ewer) cast with low-relief ornament of hō-ō (phoenixes), these motifs executed in urushi in combination with a variety of kawari-nuri (special techniques) to convey the textures of the various utensils
Signed Gyōnen nanajūni Zeshin 行年七十二是真 (Zeshin, aged 72) with seal Tairyūkyo 対柳居
Overall 53.7 × 58.2 cm (21 1/8 × 22 7/8 in.)
Image 31.9 × 40.4 cm (12½ × 15 7/8 in.)
With wooden storage box
Exhibited and published: Nezu Bijutsukan 2012, no. 123
(2).
Footnotes
As noted by Tahira Namiko of the Nezu Museum in her catalogue entry for the 2012 Zeshin exhibition, Zeshin used very thick layers of lacquer to convey the colour and texture of the metalwork depicted here. This suggests that the present painting was always intended to be mounted as an album leaf rather than a hanging scroll, since rolling and unrolling might have caused the lacquer to crack. Zeshin's skill in sahari-nuri, presumably imitating the exotic copper-tin alloy employed to make the metal tray for tea-ceremony use shown here, was mentioned in a posthumous imperial eulogy (Earle 1996, p. 50). In addition to pictorial versions of sahari like the present example, he also made actual lacquer utensils that faithfully reproduce the metal's colour and texture (Nezu Bijutsukan 2012, no. 63). A similar example by a later artist, Tanaka Hyōami, is included in our sale of the Edward Wrangham Collection of Japanese Art, Part V, 5 November 2014, lot 232. The composition as a whole is an eloquent expression of Zeshin's lifelong passion for the tea ceremony and its utensils.
