$1,100.00
Japan, 19th century.
Length 13-1/8 inches
Tiny chip at leaf edge. Fine condition.
$1,300.00
The pin holders are decorated as a male and a female doll in court style, their mouths wide open. The words ireko ningyo are branded into the wooden board. On the back of the board paper label with a flying plover and the words ireko ningyo; another paper label shows the proper names of the different parts of a rowing oar. Ireko ningyo is almost a play of words. It means nesting dolls (doll in doll in doll), but it also means pin holder on an oar in the shape of a doll.
Wood with color pigments, iron nails. Mingei (folk art).
Japan, early 20th century.
Measurements: W 19 in.; H 8 to 10.75 in.
Paint virtually completely weathered away, upper part missing, old repairs with iron nails
$1,200.00
Inquire for Price
In this shrine Benten appears in her eight-armed martial form holding various weapons (wheel, bow, spear, sword, club, lock, and arrow) and the wish granting jewel (all of them missing). On her head she carries the snake-bodied Ugajin, old god of fertility and nourishment. Around her are 15 Children or Disciples or Attendants (jugodoji), each carrying specific attributes that are essential for Benten/Ugajin to gain satisfaction and success.
Group inside: Wood stained black. Some remnants of colors on Benten’s face, gilt metal attributes (what’s left of them) and jewelry to Benten. The rock formation was carved by a different carver than the figures. The placement of the Amida Nyorai was a personal choice of the donor. There is no obvious relation between Amida and the Benzaiten group.
The zushi (case) is lacquered black over wood.
Japan, Edo period, late 18th century
Case: H 15 x W 14 x D 11 in.
Condition: Case has substantial water damage due to exposure to humidity in a temple, replacements in the bottom. Inside: Several hands missing, faces rubbed, various attributes missing, repairs on various limbs and garments, item on the boat missing, chips.
In stable condition.
$800.00
The six rings symbolize the Six Realms of Existence where Jizō is active and the Six Perfections that lead to nirvana: generosity, morality, patience, vigor, concentration, and wisdom.
Mounted on a short wooden pole, covered with red lacquer.
Cast sentoku. Japan, 19th century.
H including pole ca. 10" (25.2 cm);
H metal head only ca. 4.75" (12.3 cm).
Minimal corrosion on head, otherwise very good condition. Comes with a custom-made metal base.
$350.00
Bottom flattened and with signature chiseled: Hidekazu (not identified).
Inside the basin, the short sides are both filled with a cement-like substance.
Japan, mid-19th century
H 3 x L 6.25 x W 2.25
Bronze with several dents and scratches, commensurate with extensive usage, small hole drilled in the tip. Few casting flaws (which are not really damages).
$1,200.00
H 21.5 x W 15.75 inches
Some corrosion, good condition
Inquire for Price
Mounted on Japanese, old kiri-wood stand
H 4 ¼ inches
Excellent condition
Please enquire
In his hands he was holding a scroll and a fly whisk that are now missing. Figure stands on an irregularly shaped base. Japan, mid Edo period, 18th century.
Height incl. base ca. 5.25 inches (13.3 cm).
Hands slightly damaged.
Genjo Sanzo (Chin. Xuangzang) was a monk who went to India. Founder of the Hanya sect. He usually appears as one of the sixteen good spirits, rarely by himself.
$2,500.00
Japan, Meiji era, late 19th century.
Measurements: ca. H 12.25 x L 9 x W 7 inches (ca. 31.75 x 22.8 x 17.75 cm).
Tips of the upper flame bunch on the mandorla are bit bent and partially broken off, otherwise excellent condition.
Daiitoku (Sanskrit Yamantaka) is an emanation of Amida Buddha; he is positioned in the West; the white buffalo is a symbol of enlightenment; he has the power to eliminate evil and to establish goodness and to defeat poisonous snakes and dragons.
$395.00
The finely ribbed body of middle brown coarse clay is covered with two elongated patches of thin, translucent reddish-brown glaze. The lip with splashes of greenish glaze, on the inside gray glaze.
Karatsu ware. Japan, late Edo period, mid-19th century
Height: 12.25 inches (30.5 cm).
Firing crack in bottom, NOT through and through (does not leak), otherwise mint condition
Inquire for Price
The figure has been carved out of several blocks of wood that were subsequently assembled into the final figure. This technique is called yosegi saiku and was widely used for complex sculptures like these. The tail is stuck into the back, remaining loose. The lotus base on the back is made is in two segments, loosely inserted into the back with a wooden peg.
The rather folky character of it makes it an extremely charming piece.
Japan, Muromachi period, 15/16th century.
Height 17 ½ in., length 21 in., depth 6 ½ in. (44.5 x 53 x 17 cm).
Some edges of the different blocks chipped, chip to lotus base, chips to the tips of mane on head and to hair tufts at legs, all commensurate with age. All in all in very good and stable condition.
Please enquire
Almost abstracted wooden figure with dark patina. The mouth painted red, the eyes inlaid with glass or crystal painted with gold in reverse technique, the pomegranate made of a red kernel.
This is a very rare appearance, a kind of in-between form between the child robbing and devouring monster and the transformed and enlightened mother feeding on fruit and vegetables.
Japan, 19th century.
Height case: 13 inches (32.5 cm).
Figure in very good condition with one worm hole and tiny chip at seam at face. Base with repaired boulder. Case basically in fine condition with beautiful hardware on shrine.
Kishimojin, or Kishibojin, or Kariteimo, is a complex deity. Originally, she was a demon who stole and killed other people's children in order to feed her numerous own children. After Buddha Shakyamuni made her see how she made people suffer, she repented and devoted herself to protecting all children. Instead of the flesh of children, she fed her own children pomegranate henceforth.
Women pray to her for easy delivery, child rearing, for harmony between husband and wife, love, and for the well-being of the family. Childless women also pray to Kishimojin in the hope of becoming pregnant.
$250.00
Impressed maker’s mark in bottom: Jocho? tsukuru.
Japan, Seto region, Oribe, Meiji era, ca. 1900. Diam 7.25 x H 0.8 inches
2 old small chips and some frittings on rim, consistent with age and use
$700.00
A triangular shape is cut out of the foot by way of a potter’s mark. In the center of the bottom a round Raku seal impressed.
Raku ware, Kyoto, Japan, first half 19th century
H 3.75 x Diam at widest point 4.5 in.
Frittings all along the top edge, darkened to make them less noticeable, frittings on the drum knobs, gold dulled and worn
From a private collection of Japanese ceramic in New Jersey
$290.00
The bottom half decorated on the outside with classic lotus sepals, as used to image a Buddhist lotus dais, in relief. The top half also decorated in low relief in a much more stylized manner. The closed lotus bud, crowned by a 16-petal chrysanthemum and topped by a knob, which is probably a stylized rendering of the chrysanthemum heart.
Alternatively the shape could refer to the sprout of a butterbur plant (fukinoto).
Thin earthenware that turns reddish brown in unglazed spots, covered in multiple colored glazes, such as dark brown, reddish brown, gray and soft pink; inside is glazed dark brown.
Kyoto/Kiyomizu ware. Kochi style, with impressed artist’s seal and signature inside the cover: Choraku.
Japan, Showa era, ca. mid-20th century.
H 2.25 x Diam 2.1 in.
Some glaze chafing on the inside rim of the cover.
A similar piece by Kiyomizu Rokubei I (1738-1799) is in the British Museum, inventory no. Franks.1311 (identified as lotus flower). Another piece by Eiraku Zengoro XI, Hozen (1795-1854) is in the Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida, inventory no. 2012.8.44 (identified as butterbur sprout). Ohi Choraku (1902-1999) studied under Aoki Sotokichi. He received the name of Ohi when Ohi Chishin’s kiln was closed in 1924. Exhibited regularly.
$500.00
Underneath the beautiful milky feldspar glaze a cobalt bue and black sketch-like drawing of sprigs of bamboo. Bottom glazed brown, as is typical for this ware. Mingei.
Most likely Ofuke (or Ofukei) ware, made near Nagoya, Japan.
Edo period, circa 1800
H ca. 6 x diam at bottom ca. 5.5 in.
Ofukei has a historical relation to Seto ware. Similar pieces were produced in the Seto region.
Kintsugi or gold-lacquer repair of lip, otherwise excellent condition
$800.00
Over brownish beige very fine stoneware a layer of mottled brown glaze has been applied, over which a blue-green finely crackled flambé dripping glaze. The inside covered with brown mottled glaze, the outside bottom left unglazed.
Impressed mark in the bottom: Kato Shuntai.
Japan, 19th century.
Height: 3.25 in.; diameter: 6 in. (8.3; 15.2 cm)
Excellent condition.
The jug comes with the original storage box. The inside of its cover is inscribed with authentication of the piece as a mizusashi in the shape of a karako in ao-Oribe, made by Kato Shuntai from Seto. Authentication written and signed by Matsumori An.....
Kato Shuntai (1802-1877) worked in many ceramic styles. The splashes of flambé crackled glaze are very typical for his works (Shuntai-yaki). His works and the works of his ancestors can be found in museums around Japan and the US.