Drinking dancing and shamisen playing, a skeleton crew doing donchan-sawagi on the back of a pale gray jiban crepe-silk kimono. The figures are performed in the painstaking shibori technique where each dot is hand knotted before dying, each laborious knot making up one dot in the matrix of the design. The piece likely dates from the Meiji to early Taisho era, late 19th to early 20th century. This is not one of the modern bleached versions of this theme, but an antique original...

A very elegant pair of Antique Andon lamps dating from the Meiji period in the original storage box from a Kyoto estate. The box is dated Meiji 36 (1904) and stylistically these fit perfectly into that era, with a fine transparent red lacquer finish. They are in excellent condition, each standing 31 inches (79 cm) tall, 8-1/2 inches (22 cm) square. Due to size these will require special shipping consideration, the cost to be accrued separately.

Spiraling lines and wispy trees rise up to the heavens in this convoluted landscape by Fujimoto Tesseki dated 1855. If one looks carefully, it is fun to see the artists playful choices of colors, not apparent at first, like the blue trunk on the central tree at the base of the painting...

A large and exceedingly rare work by Kiyomizu Rokubei V (Rokuwa, 1875-1959) enclosed in the original signed wooden box. In relief are scrolling vines and flowers in white and pale blue on a soft porous pink glaze. For a nearly identical work see the collection of the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Modern Art, or the book Kiyomizu Rokuwa (1977) figure 60 (dated 1923). The vessel is 42 cm tall, 28 cm diameter and in fine condition. The box is stained quite dark with age...

Leather tobacco pouch with embossed and faded polychrome stained decoration of Buddhist Apsara, the pouch well worn. Ornate repousse metal dragon clasp and fastener on the verso engraved with decoration of an active sea. A chain with similarly decorated metal slide, depicting a dragon in relief with incised and stippled details, secured to an ivory and metal kagamibuta netsuke - the metal face again decorated with repousse dragon among flames against clouds with pearl...

Japanese limited edition copperplate etching titled “Manpukuji Temple” by Tanaka Ryohei (b. 1933). Pencil-signed, dated 2002, and numbered 11/150 in the lower margin. Paper size about 12" x 10 1/4" (image: 8" x 6 1/2"). Excellent condition.

A good Japanese lacquer tray. Egg shell ground with gold Taka-Makie decoration of quails among flowering foliage - two of the leaves with Makie on Roiro. A dark brown to black rounded edge with wood grain texturing and gold lacquered rim. The verso black with eight character gold lacquer signature lower-left: Nihon Shizuoka Kaiya (or Umino) Sei Zo...

A 20th century Japanese Agano pottery oil tsubo or vase of that form. The compressed spherical form with vitreous green glaze and blue pooling from the rim on high, waisted neck trending to a blue iridescence dripping where meets a thin, clear matte glazed buff body around the girth. The bottom unglazed around the flattened foot with single incised character off center - looks like it reads "Sei". Good condition - some bubbles in the glaze popped in the kiln...

This vase is very unusual in form and decoration. Of tripart form, three elongated egg form vases (with everted rims on one end) are joined together in the kiln as a single, large complex vessel - the rounded (and glazed) bottoms unable to hold only one of the vases upright but stable when together forming three feet. One part with bird in flowering shrub decorated reserve on pink flower and vine ground with blue, yellow, aubergine, green, black, white moriage and gold enamel details...

Two Japanese rectangular bronze mirrors. Both 19th century. 7 x 0.1 and 6 x 0.2 cm. Combined weight 78g.

Japanese bronze mirror. 19th century. 6.4 x 0.3 cm. 48g.

Japanese bronze mirror. 19th century. 7.1 x 0.4 cm. 58g.

Japanese bronze mirror. 19th century. 7.8 x 0.3cm. 70g.

Japanese bronze mirror. 19th century. 7.1 x 0.4 cm. 64 g.

Japanese bronze mirror. 19th century. 7.2 x 0.3 cm. 100g.

Japanese bronze mirror. 19th century. 7.2 x 0.4 cm. 70g.

Japanese bronze mirror. 19th century. 7.1 x 0.4 cm. 92 g.

Japanese bronze mirror. 19th century. 7.9 x 0.2 cm. 74g.

Japanese bronze mirror. 19th century. 8.2 x 0.2 cm. 86gm

Japanese bronze mirror. 19th century. 9.2 x 0.3 cm. 88cm.

Japanese bronze mirror. 19th century. 8.8 x 0.6 cm. 104g.

Japanese bronze mirror. 19th century. 9.9 x 0.7 cm. 236g.

A Meiji scene of samurai preparing for battle, a noble women looking on with apprehension as a courier brings word from the battlefield. The lord fixes the knot on his helmet, preparing to rush into the fray. The scene is performed in pigment on silk, and we have had it completely re-mounted with a black frame reflecting the original style with sturdy cloth backing...

Japanese cast iron sake kettle (choshi) with the characteristic flattened spout decorated in low relief on one side with prunus blossoms and on the other side with bamboo. The wooden lid is covered with stippled lacquer. These iron kettles were used to heat sake during the cold winter months. Flower form finial. Meiji period (19th century). Measures about 7 3/4" to the top of the handle and about 9 1/2" across to the tip of the spout. The kettle is in very good overall condition...

Japanese Edo period woodblock print by Toyokuni III (also known as Kunisada), depicting a heavily tattoed actor Ichikawa Danjuro VIII in the role of Omatsuri Sashichi in a scene from kabuki theater. The cartouche at the upper right holds the series and image title "Mitate Tsuki Zukushi: Musashi no Tsuki" (Collection of the Full Moon Parodied: The Moon over Musashi)...

A Nihonga Scene mounted on a two panel screen of a thatched house in the winter forest, blossoms just opening on the garden trees by Takahashi Shiko (1897-1970). The scene has been created over a complete wash of white, making the crisp early spring morning real and sharp. The screen measures 74-1/2 x 67-1/2 inches (189 x 172 cm) and is in excellent condition bordered in a red lacquer frame typical of the 1920s and 30s and retains the original backing paper. A superb example of the early Show...

An unusual decorative wooden sword (tea room sword) carved of hardwood in the shape of a dried fish signed on the belly pierced and wrapped with a faded silk chord. An excellent example of the genre it is 13-1/2 inches (34 cm) long and in fine condition.
It is said that these wooden swords were produced from the mid to late Edo period, in lieu of swords for those not allowed to carry weapons (all but samurai). During the Edo it is true that commoners wore them to ward off evildoers at ...

An Edo period sumi-e painting stamped Shundo-no-in on very rough silk depicting Daruma heir Kensu Osho, an eccentric Chinese beggar-monk who lived on shrimp and clams. The painting is certainly no less eccentric than its subject, unique among paintings I have seen from the Edo era. It retains the original faded border of dragon dials and lucky symbols extended with beige and features bone rollers. The scroll measures 14 1/2 x 56 inches (37 x 142 cm) and is in original condition, with some wea...

The blue and white bucket form porcelain vase in Hirado style but probably from an Arita kiln. This garden bucket is a less commonly encountered form (in porcelain) with a single handle. Decorated in Hirado fashion with plover over an active sea. Borders around the girth and the foot in relief and depicting woven bamboo securing the barrel form. A slight celadon tinge collects in glaze pooling particularly around the woven bamboo motif borders. These borders do exhibit qualities associated with ...

A Meiji period Japanese natural paper, bamboo and iron hanging Chōchin lantern in its original wood box. It consists of the ebonized hand-cut and bentwood hanger which has iron fittings with handcut nails. It opens around a pinion for mounting. The 8-3/4" diameter lantern is formed from handmade paper fiber and it has a bentwood collar and base with iron fittings. The top fitting has a handle for hanging and the bottom has fittings for hanging depending on the location. The loop is for secu...

A really nice, old bronze Shishi sculpture. It works well enough as a free standing figure and we cannot be certain it wasn't intended as such. The bottom has a single 1/2 inch (1.27 cm) diameter opening and another opening being the beast's mouth. The party we acquired from described it as an incense burner. Perhaps it could have been the cover of a censer - the opening in the bottom allowing smoke to escape from the mouth. It is not clear if a few points on the bottom surface might suggest the...

A fine gem of a meiping form vase by Ito Tozan. Decoration of paulownia mon in white moriage, red and gold enamel amongst presumably young, leafy paulownia growth in moriage gosu blue. The decoration with tasteful balance - some places sparse and other places active - winding from the foot to the rim. The almost imperceptibly finely crackled Satsuma glaze smooth to the touch and with a pleasant, warm appearance. A pleasing hoist relative to the vase's mass. Two character signature in black ena...

Birds chatter, perhaps excited by the promise of Spring from the plum blossoms peeking out of a bamboo grove, winters snow melts and trickles through the stones in the stream belwo. A two panel screen, ink and light color on gold by Mizuta Chikuho (1883-1958). An excellent example of this artists Nanga style, the subject and rich wet lines of the bamboo crisp and direct, fading to washes of gray in the shadows. The screen measures 68 x 68 inches (172 x 173 cm) and is in fine condition.
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A whimsical Bizen stoneware figural koro. A young man is depicted inebriated - sake barrel by his side (the hat cover and barrel form inokes the otherwise absent tanuki associated with sake and mischief.) The sake barrel holds the burning incense while a separate piece represents the boy's hat and forms the cover for the censer. The enjoyment of incense from the burner suggests the intoxicating qualities of imbibing. Late 19th to early 20th century. Good condition. About 5 1/4 inches (13.34cm) l...

The tanuki rests, energy spent, among fallen bamboo leaves lit by the crescent moon, only those yellow eyes alert and watchful. A beautiful pigment on silk painting signed Seiei enclosed in the original signed wooden box. It is bordered in patterned green silk and features bone rollers. The scroll is 21-1/2 x 76-1/2 inches (55 x 194 cm) and in overall fine condition.

A fox and cubs under the crescent moon and falling leaves by Hotta Shuso (b. 1894) in a style representative of the Taisho era. Light color on silk in a pale green silk border with bone rollers. The scroll is 21-1/2 x 86 inches (55 x 219 cm) and in fine condition but for a faint discoloration in border top and bottom.
Hotta Shuso (1894-1954) was born in Nagano prefecture and studied under Ikegami Shuho, settling in Tokyo. One of his best students, Shuso later became leader of Shuho's De...