Catalog: Antiques: Regional Art: Asian (195)

Staff carved out of one piece of a hard species of wood. On the top crouches a female figure with long hair, the arms wrapped around her body. The tip is a lighter middle brown while the rest is patinated a dark brown. Probably used in Shamanistic rites in tribal regions. Himalayans.
Length 16.5 inches (42.5 cm).
Some cracks and chips, nice patina.

A row of begging monks with bowls, hossu and ruyi scepters, emaciated into skeletons. At the end walks a cat skeleton. Black ink and some color on paper. Signed and sealed. Unidentified artist. Japan, early 20th century.
Image 50 ¾ x 19 in. Total length 75 ½ in.
Excellent condition.

Comes with wooden storage box (not inscribed).

Zushi with beautiful hardware on the front; inside the figure of Yakushi Nyorai (medicine Buddha), sitting on a high lotus throne, holding the medicine jar in his left hand and with his right hand making the gesture of picking medical herbs. He is surrounded by 16 rakan, painted onto the inside of the doors (not decals). On the mardorla behind his head two apsara are painted, playing the sho and the flute. High quality carving. Wood decorated in mineral colors and gold. Japan, Edo period, likely late 18th century, perhaps early 19th century at the latest.
H of case ca. 9 ¼ inches.
Painting on the doors a bit darkened, slightly chipping; some lotus petal with tiny chip, otherwise in very good condition.

Very small stoneware chaire tea caddy, used in the tea ceremony during the colder months. Squat body with rounded shoulder and relatively wide mouth. Fine dark gray stoneware with yellow, brown and lavender colored glazes layered over each other and dripping down the body, with a fine thin crackle. Also glazed on inside. Seto ware, Owari Province, Japan, Edo period, 17th century or earlier.

H 2.25 inches.

Three brown lacquer repaired areas around the mouth, several longer and shorter very old vertical cracks, not in the least destabilizing the piece. All in all very good condition.

Provenance: Private collection of chaire, purchased at Christie's London, 2010; ex collection Louis Gonse; ex collection George Haviland; a catalog clipping comes with the piece, dating it to the 15th century.

Kanban with the inscription Inari taiji goyo (great Inari shrine, your order). The sign may refer to a shop at the shrine grounds, selling things to be offered at the shrine or souvenirs, or to a shop that specifically make devotional objects to the order of this particular Inari shrine. Attached to a black patinated wooden board are a bell and rope and two small objects, covered in gold brocade. Forged iron handle at top.
Measurements: height at left 38 ½ in., height at right 38 ¼ in.; width at top 12 3/16 in., width at bottom 11 3/8 in.
Japan, Edo period, 18th century.
Some worm damage, metal part of left ornament missing, otherwise good condition.

Mid-size stoneware jar for storing tea leaves or other.
Brown stoneware with white inclusions and a green splash of natural ash glaze. Slightly widening from bottom to shoulder, with a short more or less straight neck with everting lip.

Japan, Momoyama – Edo period, 16/17th century.

Height 12 ½ inches.

Excellent condition.

Chawan in Raku style, made in dry lacquer technique (kanshitsu) simulating ceramic. The lacquer is applied in such a way that you see small crevices and patches of red and brownish black lacquer in the same way we see it in Raku ware. Japan, Meiji era.

H ca. 3 ½ inches, dia. Ca. 4 ½ inches.

Excellent condition.

Comes with brocade pouch and plain wooden box.

Rare pair of shrine guardians in the shape of foxes, both sitting on a two tiered elevation. The right one holds a moving jewel in its mouth, the left one a stick. Middle brown, dense wood with a beautiful patina where hands touched the backs and heads of the foxes and the bases. Red staining on inside of ears, inside the mouths, in nostrils. Crystal eyes. Bases made of the same wood. Bases inscribed: Hono, Osaka, shinshachu (in faith of mankind); Hokkinin (sponsors), Osaka, Minami Horie, jogo: one base with the name Umezaki Jisaburo, the other with the name Shimezaka Jihei. The bottoms of the bases signed in black ink: Sowajima … minami … Shitakawa Yasujiro chokoku (carved by Shitakawa Yasujiro). Japan, Meiji period.
Height with base: ca. 27 in. (ca. 70 cm), height base: ca. 9 ¾ in. (ca. 25 cm).
Fox with jewel: short crack at right hindpaw, cracks in the body that show less or worse, depending on temperature/humidity, few abrasion and chips at feet. Fox with stick: cracks in the body that show less or worse, depending on temperature/humidity, few abrasion and chips at feet, stick of later date. All in all very good condition.

Minami Horie is a district in Osaka, west of the quarter of Minami, where the bunraku, kabuki and no theaters are. The pieces must have been standing in front of a Shinto shrine that no longer exists today.

Bronze sculpture of a Dakini, dancing on a human body on a lotus base. Two part cast. Khmer, Bayon style, 19th century or later.
H ca. 13 inches. Excellent condition.

Ex Doris Wiener, New York

Beautiful thick bronze hollow votive figure in the shape of Dainichi Nyorai sitting on a lotus base, former part of a kakebotoke. His head gear finely engraved with floral motives. Bronze with dark brown patina and traces of gilding. Kamakura period, 14th century.

Mounted on Japanese, old kiri-wood stand

H 4 ¼ inches

Excellent condition

Plain wooden sculpture of the founder of the Nichiren sect. He is sitting, holding both his hands with the palms up. He is positioned on a rectangular elevation, decorated with water whirls and gilded over lacquer on the sides. Plain wood, carved in a slightly facetted way that gives texture to his garment and skin. On the back in black ink inscription reading "Nichiren". On the bottom inscription in black ink, partly covered by paper. Japan, Edo period, 19th century.
Height 4 11/16 in. (12.2 cm).
Crack into his left thigh, cracks in the back of his neck and in the upstanding part of his garment (back), partly filled in and stabilized. Part of left hand thumb missing.

This piece is part of a Nichiren zushi, that is listed under no. 492282

Hanging scroll with image of the descent of the Buddha to welcome the souls of the deceased and accompany them to the Western Paradise. He is standing on a lotus on clouds and holds his hand in gebon josho. The mudra is the appropriate level for common citizens to be reborn in. Mineral colors and gold on silk. The garment exquisitely decorated in gold. Japan, late Muromachi or early Edo period, 16th century.
Image: 38 ¼ X 15 ¾ inches. Mounting: 84 ¼ x 21 3/8 inches.
Missing areas throughout the silk, mainly in the background. Beautifully stabilized.

Shrine with the exquisite carving of the eleven headed Kannon, holding the vase with the flower in the left hand, a rosary in the right. Dark wood. The garment, finely carved with pleats and scarves, decorated in gold with flowers and geometric designs. On the crown 8 of the 11 heads (three missing), with individual faces. The accessories on the chest and the crown in gilded metal. Kannon is standing on a nine tiered base (six tiers hexagonal, three tiers, the lotus, are round). Excellent piece. Japan, Edo period, 18th century or earlier.
Case height 15 ¼ in. (39.5 cm).
Case: obvious traces of usage (lacquer rubbed and chipped on outside), repairs to the bottom, gold lacquer inside strongly rubbed and sooted, some flaking toward the bottom. Figure: Three heads on top missing, parts of crown and necklace missing, rosary broken off, the left foot broken and restored, tip of toe to right foot broken. Mandorla with some repairs, but basically complete. Some tiny chips to base. All in all very good and stable condition.

More photos of case on request.

Plain wooden sculpture of the deity Shichimen Daimyojin. She is sitting on the top of mount Shichimen, crossing her left leg over the right, holding a jewel in her left hand. She is positioned on a rectangular elevation, painted green on top and gilded over lacquer on the sides. Behind her a jewel decorated nimbus. Plain wood, carved in a slightly facetted way that gives texture to his garment and skin. Crown of gilded metal. On the back in black ink inscription reading ‘Nichiren’. On the bottom inscription in black ink, reading ‘Kaneda[mura], Hirono Naomasa’. On the bottom of the base an inscription in black ink reading: Koshu, Yashiro gun, Kaneda mura, Hirono Asajiro Naomasa. Japan, Edo period, 19th century.
Height without base 7 ½ in. (18.8 cm).
Crack into at the front, sword missing, parts of crown missing, otherwise very good condition.

This piece is part of a Nichiren zushi, that is listed under no. 492282.

Irregularly shaped cylindrical chaire. Tea caddy used in the tea ceremony during the colder months. Dark brown or black glaze with one thick splash of yellow and green glaze. Footring. Raku style. Japan, 17th/18th century.

H 3¾ inches

Firing crack at lip, several old gold lacquer repairs at lip and foot and bottom, all in all fine condition

This probably was a drinking cup (mukozuke) originally and was converted into a tea caddy at some point.

Provenance: Private collection of chaire; purchased at Christie's South Kensington Japanese Art and Design Including Arts of the Samurai Wednesday 9 November 2011, Lot #81; Cleveland Museum of Art (paper labels TR2741; 17 146; and 17 146A); several other collection labels.

Cast iron kakebotoke or votive plaque for a Buddhist temple or house shrine, showing Amida Nyorai in low relief with ajour in mandorla. Japan, Meiji era, 19/20th century.

Diameter 6 ¼ inches

Excellent condition

Shrine with inside the figure of the bodhisattva Jizo. He sits on a lotus base, positioned on a rock, his left leg hanging down, the foot resting on a small lotus base. In his left hand he holds a sacred jewel, in the right he formerly held his staff. The rock is placed onto a six tiered hexagonal, elaborately decorated base. Inscription on back of case in ochre colored lacquer, indicating that inside is a sculpture of Jizo, that an offering of 6 to (108 liters ??) was made, that the name of the donator was Naga Nobumasa. Japan, Edo period, 17th/18th century.
Height of case: 14 inches (36.1 cm).
Case: lacquer chips at bottom plate (baring the underlying wood), partly touched up, some minor touch-ups at upper rim, lacquer dull. Basically in very good condition. Figure: lacquer cracks along the seams of the wood blocks (on the right side of his body), some minor lacquer chips and cracks, hardly visible and soot. Staff missing. Necklace broken, but more or less complete. All in all very good condition.

Hand shrine, or zushi, in the shape of a lotus bud, carved in two halves. On the inside, on one side the standing figure of Amida Nyorai on a lotus base, his hands in mudra. The other half of the lotus bud is decorated with a mutsume pattern (imitating a triaxial weaving) in kirikane (very thin strips of gold foil). Japan, Edo period, early 19th century.
Very light, soft wood. On the outside red lacquer, covered with leaf gold, that is partly rubbed off again. On the inside much of the carving is decorated with brush applied gold, and kirikane for the background of both halves.
Japan, Edo period, late 18th, early 19th century.
Total height: 4 ½ inch (11.4 cm).
One hand of the Buddha missing, the other glued, lower lip chafed. Few chips and dents at edges, all in all very good condition.