Catalog (283)

Rare pair of foxes that guard a Inari shrine. One holding a jewel in the mouth, the other a key. Each squatting on a little pedestal. Earthenware with mineral color pigments red, blue, white and black. Japan, Edo period, 19th century.

H 19-1/2 x W 6-1/2 x D 9 inches.

One tail restored, key broken and partially replaced for the sake of symmetry, few chips. All in all excellent condition.

Tall vessel of square shape, cut out of a section of a Paulownia (kiri) tree showing knots on three sides, where side branches used to be. The wood is stained dark brown. One side of the vessel is decorated with inlays/appliques and lacquer paint. The appliques colored with gold sprinkle, silver flakes and green lacquer.
A sparrow is sitting on a bamboo stalk.
Red patinated copper liner.

Japan, Taisho era, 1920s

H 11.75 x W ca. 5 x D ca. 5 in.

On the bottom of the kiri wood and on the bottom of the copper liner is written in felt pen: M.E. Boone 821-0930.

Condition: Dent, scratches, scuffs in the wood, consistent with light usage. Liner bent and dented, green insultation? stuff along the bottom seam on the inside.

Highly unusual Buddhist shrine with the image of a horse looking back. The horse has a ‘brocade’ cover over his back and is standing behind a mesh wire fence, the way they would be kept in temple compounds.

Polychromed wood with some gold details. The roof of the shrine is a separate piece and can be detached, which allows for taking apart the zushi.

Japan, Meiji period, 19th century.
Height of zushi ca. 7.8 inches (19.5 cm).

Frontal golden curtain dislodged due to warping, but still with the zushi; one door lost its hinge-functions (top and bottom pin broken off, triangular splinter on right door on last photo), paint on brocade cover of horse chipping and fragile.

This piece needs to be seen as a form of ema, which were offered to temples and shrines as a calling to the deity. In the Shinto religion, horses are intermediaries between this world and the gods. The horse is seen to be used by various deities, for example Benzaiten.

Sculpture of a priest sitting with his legs crossed, his hands positioned on his knees, formerly holding a scroll and a rosary. He wears a robe, carved in low relief, with the usual square pattern in red and green typical of a priest’s robe. His face is very rich in expression, his bare chest clearly shows his ribcage.
Wood with a polychrome lacquer layer on top of gesso.
Japan, Edo period, 18th century.

Height 18.5 in., width 17.25 in., depth 12 in.

Beautiful patina. The lacquer rubbed in places, partly down to the bare wood, lacquer stabilized, some thin cracks in the lacquer surface, but basically in good and stable condition.

Large porcelain charger decorated in underglaze blue with a map of Japan, as drawn in the Edo period. The map (Gyoji type) shows the main islands of Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu, divided into the 63 provinces. The names of the provinces are written in kanji. Here and there a name of a city (i.e. Edo) is added.
The main islands of Japan are surrounded by several islands (names written partly or entirely in katakana) and real and imaginary countries, such as Choseon, the Ryukyus, the country of the small people and the country where women rule.
The sea is indicated by stylized waves. Around the islands are stylized clouds and on top and bottom fly crane-like birds.
Outside rim decorated with meandering flowering vines. Five spur marks. 6-mark seal within foot: Honcho Tenpo nensei.
Japan, Hizen, Mikawachi, 1830s-1840s or slightly later (but still Edo period).

Diameter 16 inches, H 2.25 inches (Diam. 40.6 cm, H 5.7 cm).

Condition excellent.

A mokko-shaped porcelain kogo incense burner, which is a square with each corner indented. The corners are so strongly indented that the shape becomes an octagonal. All sides are slightly bulging out and the cover is slightly domed, giving the whole a soft, rounded feel.

From the center of the cover, the surface has been divided into eight ‘cake slices’. The decoration in underglaze blue (sometsuke) runs continuously the center of the cover, with a small flower in the middle, to the bottom. Each slice has been decorated. Two slices with birds with a flower in their beaks, two with a landscape, four with geometric motifs.

Signature in underglaze blue: Tokusen.

H 2 x W 2.25 x D 2.25 in.

Excellent condition

Comes with the original wooden storage box, cover inscribed: shôzui hakkaku kogo (octagonal incense box), box signed on the side: Tokusen tsukuru and seal Tokusen.

Nishimura Tokusen III (1928-2007) was a famous potter from the Nishimura family in Kyoto. His grandfather opened the Tokusen-kiln on Gojosaka, which he took over. Tokusen trained under his father, Tokusen II, Kusube Yaichi and Kiyomizu Rokubei VI. However, given the seal on the box, it may be that this piece was not made by Tokusen III, but by Tokusen II. Nothing is known about him.

Large octagonal bowl made of porcelain, decorated in underglaze cobalt blue. In the center of the bowl a prancing tiger before a roaring stream, looking up towards the sky. Behind him bamboo and rocks. Left of the tiger there is a three-line poem about the tiger and the third moon (May or June).

The sides are decorated with four peonies and leaves draped in arabesques; the rim decorated with a border of key-fret motif. On the outside each flat section of the octagonal decorated with a tachibana in a cartouche. Blue lines on the ribs of the octagonal, sectioning off each flat surface, in the way Kraak chargers were sectioned off.

Hizen, Arita kiln, Japan, 18th / 19th century

H 3 x W 10.5 x Diagonal 11 in.

One underglaze chip (not considered a damage), few scratches in bottom and mushikui on rims commensurate with age and usage, all in all excellent condition

The tiger represents autumn, is one of the four cardinal points in ancient astronomy, rules over the five constellations of the West, and is the personification of the wind.
Tiger in bamboo (take ni tora) in high wind is supposed to mean that even the strongest terrestrial force (tiger) is no match for the elements. However, as the tiger is a symbol of the wind, the image should evoke the sound of the rustling wind in the bamboo.

Square dish with straight rims, with elegant indentation on each corner. In the center two cranes (or similar birds) walking on rocks underneath a pine tree near the sea. On the inside of the rims a continuous border of heart-shaped flowers, on the outside a border with diamond pattern, broken by one cartouche on each side, containing a house. The top of the rim decorated with a karakusa-border.

White porcelain with underglaze cobalt blue decoration. No mark on back, but 25 tiny spur marks in a grid.

Japan, 19th century.
Ca 1.5 x 8.5 x 8.5 in.

Rims a bit warped, glaze on top of the rim rubbed and dull, one foot repaired, some tiny scratches on the surface of the center, all consistent with usage. All in all good condition.

Cranes are auspicious birds

Very large tile in the shape of (and virtually in the size of) a handscroll decorated in underglaze blue with a crashing wave and a full moon. The image is surrounded by borders of geometric flowers and medallions filled with a phoenix. Some of the phoenixes looks left, others look right. Medallions colored in underglaze pink and yellow.

On the back are two ‘loops’ to hang the tile up.

Japan, Seto, Meiji era, 1870s-1900.

H 10.6 x W 39.25 x D 0.25 in.

Excellent condition

The tile might have been part of a wooden bench or bed, mounted as the back or head board.

Very rare.

Keyaki (zelkova) wooden pulley, used to scoop water out of a well. Wooden wheel with forged iron block. The inside of the wheel groove (where the rope would run through), lined with a thin sheet of copper. Mingei.
Japan, 19th century

Diameter wheel 12.25 in.; height pulley and block 16.75 in.; thickness wheel 3 in., thickness block 6.5 in.

Keyaki wood with beautiful patina, some dents and scratches commensurate with usage, copper on wheel slightly damage due to usage, otherwise very good condition.

A folding album titled "Qi Baishi huaji" (Collected paintings of Qi Baishi) with 22 color prints. Rongbaozhai, Beijing 1952, 5th month, no. 507. In brocade covers.
Each print on the left hand page, measuring 31.5 x 22 cm (ca. 12 x 9 inches).

Fine impressions and colors, label on cover with gold speckles, some bleeding of the red pigment, water stains on the last 7 double pages, covers with some traces of usage (rubbing of brocade, upper corners dented, which has an effect on the pages).

Published during Qi Baishi's life time

Images show only a selection of the 22 prints

From a European private collection

Set for carrying lunch. Bamboo and rattan basketry box lined with green brocade, the outside with an intricate diamond pattern woven in two colors, the corners fortified with leather. Dangling from one of the brass handles is a natural gourd with silver stopper and a lacquer sake cup, imitating Tamba stoneware. Japan, Meiji era, early 20th century.

Basket: H 3; L 6; D 4 ¼ inches (7,5 x 15,2 x 10,6 cm). Gourd: L 7 ½ inches (18,5 cm). Sake cup: diam. 2 inches (5,2 cm).

Traces of usage at basket, all in all good condition.

Reliquary in the shape of a pagoda, used to house the Hokyoin Sutra. This type of reliquary originates from China and developed in Japan in the Kamakura era. The Hokyoin Darani sutra contains invocations that make it easier for the soul of the deceased to find its way out of Hell directly into Paradise. These pagodas are usually made of stone, so they can be buried with the deceased. The sutra is recited daily in esoteric Buddhist sects, and is venerated as a relic of the Buddha Shakyamuni. As such the lower part should contain relics.
The pagoda is made in two parts. The lower part can be opened (double doors on one side), showing a void that could be filled with something circular. The upper part has four disc shape decorations sitting on a lotus dais, each with a name of the Bodhisattva in bonji (Sanskrit): Aizen Myoo (front), Kokuzo bosatsu (left), Senju Kanzeon bosatsu (back), and Seishi bosatsu (right).
Gold and black lacquer on wood, Japan, Edo period, 19th century.

H ca. 15.5 in; W 5 in.; D 5 in.

Few segments missing (jewel on top of the pike; lotus dais underneath one of the bonji, one of the corner petals on second tier), dedication and name of donor scratched out (back), knicks and dents

Sculpture of a long-nosed tanuki, walking with a hat on its back and a flask in its left paw. The piece is built around a large piece of root wood that comprises the torso, legs, the enlarged scrotum and tail. The head is a separate piece of root wood, the ears inserted. The sake flask is a small piece of root wood, and the hat is carved from a slab of a different wood species.

Hat and sake bottle are attached to the tanuki with braided silk cords.

Mingei.

Root wood with black staining.

Japan, Meiji-Taisho era early 20th century

H 15.5 in.

Thin cracks around the neck, where the head is attached to the body. Black stain is flaking. Other small chips and thin cracks commensurate with age and materials used. All in all, still in very good condition.

More images available upon request

Almost square fukusa or ceremonial cloths, with design of a family crest with central flower surrounded by wisteria. Flowers embroidered in gold thread onto a deep blue satin ground. Reverse is red crepe silk. In each of the corners a green tassel with Chinese knot. Japan, Meiji era, ca. 1900

H 29 x W 27 inches.

Few unobstrusive stains on reverse, otherwise fine condition

Rectangular cover for over a gift, called fukusa made of green (front) and purple (back) silk satin. On the front is an image of three turtles walking towards the water, with a bamboo grove in the back of them. The hand-made decoration is done in velvet, hand painting and gold thread embroidery.
On the back in light gray velvet against purple is a round family crest.

Green and brown braided tassels in the corners.

Japan, first half 20th century

H 22 x W 19.25 in.

Some of the velvet slightly worn, minimal traces of usage, folds from storage, all in all excellent condition. One tassel missing.

The turtle stands for longevity, bamboo for longevity and resilience. Auspicious image, excellent for gift giving. The fukusa would be put over a box or a tray holding a gift. The fukusa was just as important as the gift itself.

Hanging scroll. Benzaiten mandala. The eight-armed deity, bearing arms and a coiled snake (the deity Ugajin) on her head, sits on a lotus-leaf-seat, flanked by Daikoku and Bishamonten. Before her are the 15 disciples, or jugo doji, above her the sun and the moon.
Ink, mineral colors and gold on silk. Japan, Muromachi period, around 1500.
Painted area: H 38 3/8 in. x W 18 5/8 in.
Few horizontal creases, but all in all in excellent condition.

A similar painting of Benzaiten and the 15 disciples is in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, inventory no. 11.4107. Even though it dates from an earlier part of the Muromachi period, and the composition is different, there is a striking similarity in the details on the garments and in the hairdo of the doji and the size of the painting. The Tokyo National Museum holds another comparable painting under inventory no. C0018069 /A-1228.

Hanging scroll with image in ink, red, gofun and gold on paper of the bodhisattva Fugen in twenty-armed form sitting on a lotus throne guarded by the four guardian kings each standing on the head of an elephant, the whole being carried by a crowd of elephants. The black outlines printed, the image subsequently colored by hand. To the lower left the name of the donor: Reiun Jogan. Japan, Muromachi period.
Painted area: 21.4 x 12.75 inches (54.3 x 32.2 cm). Total length: 56.25 inches (142.9 cm).
Several restored damages, consistent with its age.