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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Steam coils about the petit young woman at the public bath, a fine Taisho era painting signed Ikuho. The color blends into the silk, leaving a soft edge enhancing the sense she is being viewed through the steam and heat of the bath. Pigment on silk, mounted later in green patterned cloth extended with grey and featuring wooden rollers. As pictures of nudes were forbidden, Ikuho is likely a pen-name, possibly taken from Ikuho Street in Northern Kyoto city where the artist may have resided...

A superb bronze vase with silver plate design enclosed in the original wooden box and stamped on the base by the artsit. The vessel is 11-1/2 inches (30 cm) tall and in excellent condition

Heavy pigment on thickly veined gold creates a powerful collection of scenes from the Taiheiki, the 11th century story of the fall of the courtiers and usurpation of power by two military families, the Taira and the Genji. The screen dates to the 18th century, or middle Edo period. Many old repairs attest to age. We have had it completely remounted, with no painting restoration performed. On the left the famous scene of shooting a fan from horseback from the battle of Yajima. Center two famo...

A set of five Meiji period dishes hand painted by Suzuki Hyakunen in commemoration of the Gosho-Nai Dai-Hakurankai (Exposition in the Imperial Palace, Kyoto) stamped on the underside with the event name and each individually signed by the artist. The literati scenes include a scholar contemplating a waterfall, Mountain retreat lost in rugged hills, sails on the lake, traveler in the hills and horses on the lakeshore under weeping willows. A beautiful and very rare set, each dish is roughly 4-1...

Oversized Japanese limited edition sosaku hanga “kappa-ban” (stencil print) of a tengu mask titled “Mayoke Tengu” (also known as "Tengu-shaped Amulet") by Yoshitoshi Mori (1898-1992). The print is pencil-signed “Yoshitoshi Mori,” dated ’87, and numbered 10/50. The artist’s red seal is above the signature. The known paper size is about 17”V x 27 1/4”H. The framed size is 19"V x 28 1/2"H. The print is nicely framed in the original Kato Gallery frame and appears to be in very go...

A haunting vessel by Miyagawa Kozan enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Haku Korai Bin, Yukan Tsuki (White Korean form with free handles). This piece is the epitome of the elegance which came from Japanese working with traditional forms. Devoid of decoration, the shape stands alone among works by this famous artist. It is 10-1/2 inches (27 cm) tall and is in perfect condition. I will enclose a rosewood stand for display purposes with this vase.
The name Kozan was granted...

Japanese plique-a-jour cloisonne enamel vase densely decorated with a bouquet of flowers set against a celadon green background. Chrome rims. Dates from the Occupation period (1945-1960). Measures about 3 3/4"H x 3" diameter. Very good overall condition. There is a faint interior stress crack at the shoulder that cannot be felt (see enlargements 6 and 7). The neck is very slightly tilted.

A 17th – 18th century Neko-tora Tiger by Nagasaki school artist Watanabe Shuseki performed with ink and color on paper in yellow bronze silk border with bone rollers. The parchment is aged and gray, giving the sense of a wall painting in some ancient tomb. The scroll is 14 x 63 inches (36.5 x 160 cm). There is some damage to the lower extremities of the paper, and minor cupping. Watanabe Shuseki (1639-1707) lived in Nagasaki and was a proponent of that school trained under Itsunen. Works ...

Item description:. The lead warrior charges headstrong into the frothing waves, a band of mounted warriors following across the six panels of this mid Edo period gilded screen. Cherry blossoms, symbol of impermanence and the life of the warrior, and pines, symbol of strength and long life, create teh back drop, with clouds of gold applied smoothly and over a pebble textured surface defining the characters. A well painted rendition of this famous scene from the epic Taiheiki . The screen has...

Japanese limited edition sosaku hanga “kappa-ban” (stencil print) of a samurai titled “Tobacco Pipe” (Kiseru) by Yoshitoshi Mori (1898-1992). The warrior grasps his sword with one hand and holds his smoking pipe with the other. The print is pencil-signed “Y. Mori,” dated ’86, and numbered 11/70. The artist’s red seal is above the signature. The paper measures 15 3/4”V x 19”H. This print is in very good overall condition. The print is backed by a thin sheet of archival pape...