Catalog (46)

Almost square fukusa, or ceremonial cover, made of silk, hand-decorated in yuzen dye technique (mineral colors and gold flakes) and with gold thread embroidery. Image of two open folding fans, connected with red noshi-threads. On the top fan are chrysanthemums along a stream; the bottom fan is decorated with cranes flying above pine trees near the sea. The fans are outlined in gold thread.

The reverse is red silk, decorated with peonies in brocade weave.

Tassels in the four corners, made of red and cream-colored twisted silk thread

The image of this fukusa is filled with auspicious symbols and so the cover would be used on a day of celebration.

Japan, Meiji or Taisho era, early 20th century

H 26 x W 25.5 in.

Brown spots in the lower area and folding creases, consistent with use and storage

Hanging scroll. Painting of two noble men on horseback. The men and the horses are dressed up beautifully and are obviously competing with each other in one way or another. Probably a scene on a horse track, the men shortly before or after a race.

Ink and mineral colors on silk, in a gold brocade mounting with bone scroll ends.

Signed in lower right: Shogai. Two red seals: Tani-shi Hidemasa; Shogai no in.

Silk: H 49 x W 16.5 in.
Mounting: H 77 x W 21.5 in.
W at the bottom with scroll ends: 23.6 in.

Comes in the original wooden storage box. Inscribed on the outside: Keiba no zu (image of horse racing). On the inside of the cover: Taisho juichinen chushun (spring of Taisho 11=1922), Shogai shiki and two seals: Tani Hidemasa and Shogai.

Although the artist cannot be further identified at this point, the painting is of high quality, in a style that is reminiscent of Katsushika Hokusai.

Two tiny tears on the edges, stabilized by the mounting, several very light stains. All in all in very good condition. Mounting in very good condition.

Two erotic shunga drawings in black ink and mineral colors on thin paper.
On the right hand painting a double-sided dildo, to pleasure two women at the same time. The left half is made of tortoise shell (yellow with black patches), the right half is probably indicating buffalo horn.
The left-hand painting shows how to use the dildo properly.

Unsigned.

Japan, 19th century.

Each drawing 9.75 x 9.75 inches. Both drawing fully mounted onto a thicker sheet of paper.

Condition: Left hand drawing with worm holes mostly in the upper margin (unpainted area), but a few inside the circle. Right hand painting with worm holes in lower margin, inside the circle, two other torn and straightened areas. Wrinkles in paper of left-hand drawing.

One-sided orihon accordion album with 12 paintings. 10 images of man-woman scenes, one rape scene, one scene with a woman with dildo.
Paintings in black ink, mineral colors (some with gold), and gofun on silk.
The covers are bound in silk brocade, with a small silk sumie painting of a heron on the front cover, by way of a title slip.
Paintings unsigned, but in the style of Tomioka Eisen (1864–1905).
Japan, Meiji era, around 1900.

Album 11.25 x 14.75 inches
Paintings 9.5 x 13.5 inches

Paintings with a few small spots, some wear (rubbing, missing spots) at upper margins of some paintings, but all in all in excellent condition. Covers with some wear around the corners, but all in all in fine condition.

Comes in blue Chinese wrapper in fair condition.

Hanging scroll with erotic painting. Image of a man of the merchant class and a woman having intercourse, while being surrounded by a multitude of other women having their own fun. Ukiyo-e style.
Black ink, gold and bright color on silk.

Unsigned. After a four-page book illustration by Keisai Eisen (see photo 6, which is NOT offered for sale here).
Japan, Meiji period.

Height: 12 ¾”; width: 18 ¼”; total height mounting: 47 ¾” (32.4 x 46.3; 121.3 cm).

Typical mounting from the Meiji period, probably original to the painting.

Some foxing, otherwise very good condition.

Hanging scroll. Hand-painted painting of a snake coiling around a bamboo stalk. Black ink on silk.
Signature on left: Ippo. Red artist’s seal: Keishi.

Japan, early Meiji era.

Image: H 42 ½ x W 15 inches.
Total H 78 inches.

Few brown stains in silk, generally very good condition.

Comes with kiri-wood storage box

From the estate of Ingeborg L. Muller, wife of Robert O. Muller

In the style of the Shijo school painter Mori Ippo (1798 - 1871), but probably not by him.

Antique hanging scroll. A dragon dressed in kimono and apron stands on hind legs, and holds up high a jewel, as if offering to an invisible celestial divine creature. Above them is a swirl.

Signed: Shoto …utsutsu. Seal: Moroku sensei.

Black ink and mineral color on paper.

Japan, Taisho era, 1910s, perhaps 1920s.

Painted area: ca. 52 x 13.5 in. (132 x 34.5 cm).
Total length ca. 77 inches (195 cm).

Few light stains and tiny spots, some foxing in mounting, otherwise very good condition.

Kurata Shoto (1865-1928) was a painter from Akita. He worked in the nanga style. His paintings were often Buddhist in subject matter, but he also painted historical and mythological figures. His sense of humor is often visible in his work.

Hanging scroll. Portrait of probably Sugawara no Michizane, sitting in court dress - a black garment with a long white sash - holding a wooden mace. The black garment, with red liner, is delicately decorated with flowers between waving lines. The sash also decorated with stylized flower shapes.

Tosa style. Signature at bottom: Yuho Issho ga. Red seal: Issho no in.

Colors on silk.

Japan, early 19th century.

Painted area: 23 5/16 x 10 13/16 in. (39.7 x 27.9 cm).
Total length 57 in. (146.5 cm).

Three restored holes in silk (not in image), otherwise very good condition. Mounting fairly modern and in excellent condition. Bone scroll ends.

Comes with a fitting kiribako of a later date.

Sugawara Michizane (845-903) was a Heian period scholar, poet, politician of lower nobility. He was deified as Tenjin-same, god of the sky and storms, later as a god of education/scholarship. The Kitano Tenman-gū Shrine in Kyoto was dedicated to him by the imperial court.

Small painting of the 11-headed Kannon standing on a lotus dais, flanked by Bishamonten and Fudo Myoo.
In the front two red colored Nio are guarding the deities.
Inscription on the central base reads: Ichijoten (name of the temple hall), junsan koichi hongu.
The inscription on the bottom reads: Kazusa Shibayama Tenozan Kanon kyoji.
Rollers cut off and framed in mounting.

Black ink and colors on paper.
Japan, Edo period, 19th century.

Painted area: 22 7/8 x 10 9/16 inches
Frame: 29 ½ x 12¼ inches.

Paper slightly creased and rubbed at places, some pigment loss on creases, otherwise good condition.

This painting was sold at the Kannon kyoji temple on Tenno Mountain in Shibayama (Chiba Prefecture). It shows the main hall’s statues of worship, the 11-headed Kannon, Bishamonten and Fudo Myoo, and the famous nio at the gate. Printed versions of this image were also sold.

Hanging scroll. The founder of the Shingon sect of Buddhism in Japan, Kobo daishi (774-835), seated at a priest’s seat, holding a vajra and a rosary in his hands.
His shoes and a ewer stand underneath his chair.
Ink, mineral colors and gold on silk.
Japan, 19th century.

Painted area: ca. 34.7 x 15.95 inches (93.1 x 40.4 cm); total length 65.2 inches (165.5 cm)

Scratch through upper part, few horizontal dull creases, basically good condition. Mounting with damage.

Kobo daishi is the posthumus name of Kukai. Kukai was a Buddhist monk, a civil servant, engineer, scholar, a poet, artist and calligrapher. As part of a government sponsored expedition to China in 804, Kukai was allowed to study Chinese Buddhism in Ximing Temple in Chang’an (today’s Xi’an). In 805 he met Master Huiguo (746–805) who initiated him into Chinese Esoteric Buddhism.

Nokyojiku, hanging scroll with stamps and inscriptions (shuin) collected at temples visited at the Saigoku pilgrimage circuit. At each temple the pilgrim asks the custodian of the temple to stamp and inscribe his scroll. These scrolls are carried mostly by pilgrims who travel along the 88 holy sites of Shikoku, by pilgrims who complete a circuit of Kannon temples, and/or of Fudo Myo-o temples.

Hanging scroll with gold brocade mounting and gilded hardware, as used for Buddhist paintings. The image of the bodhisattva Kannon sitting on a rock, with a poem underneath, is painted in black ink, red and gold, in the center of the silk. She is surrounded by 37 stamps and poems (goeika, originally written by Emperor Kazan, after his retirement), collected on the circuit of 33 temples of the Saigoku Pilgrimage (Kansai area), that are dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon, at and four other temples. Each temple of the Saigoku circuit has a number, reflected in the read seals. The stamps used on this scroll are the ones that have been used from the Showa era on. The additional four stamps are from the Yamato-kuni Chokuku temple and the Kiko temple in Nara, dedicated to Kannon, and from two other temples.

It has become very rare that the poems are added to the stamps. The calligraphy is very good and is certainly not to be reproduced today.

Japan, Showa era, ca. late 1970s.

Image H 48.75 x W 17.5 in.
Mounting 74.25 x 23.25 in.
Width bottom scroll 25.75 in.

Excellent condition

Small but exquisite scroll paintings in mineral colors and gold on silk. The background in the upper halves in gold.
Aizen Myoo sits on his typical lotus throne on top of the vase full of jewels, surrounded by a circular, red, flaming nimbus. Around the foot of the jewel filled vase are sacred treasures scattered around.
Daiitoku Myoo rides in standing position a long horned buffalo who jumps over waves, while Daiitoku draws his bow.
Rich brocade mounting with the chrysanthemum and the paulownia crests.
Japan, Edo period, 18th century.

Painted silk of each: H 16.8 x W 9.3 x in. (42.7 x 23.6 cm).
With mounting H is approx. 50.5 in.

Restored tear in the upper half of the Daiitoku-painting, otherwise good conditions.

Comes with a plain (uninscribed) wooden storage box.

Aizen and Daiitoku are two of the Myoo who – in Esoteric Buddhism - subdue evil spirits and convert nonbelievers to the teachings of Dainichi Buddha.

Hanging scroll. Various insects walking in line with luggage, simulating a lord (daimyo) traveling with his entourage to or from the capital (samurai or daimyo gyoretsu). A butterfly, suzumushi, praying mantises, yellow jackets and grass hoppers are traveling in a line, holding flowers and grasses for keyari, carrying a honeycomb for a palanquin, and berries for luggage.
Black ink and colors on silk.
Signed Bunrei; two red seals reading bun and rei.
Japan, mid 19th / second half 19th century.

Painted area: 14.5 x 20.2 inches. Total height: 46.5 inches.

Painting with some light stains, otherwise in excellent condition, mounting damaged.

Mori Bunrei (Meiji era painter) was the adopted son and pupil of Mori Ippo (1798-1871), the Shijo painter. His style and technique closely follow those of Ippo.
A very similar painting by Nishiyama Hoen (1804-1867) is in the British Museum. This type of painting is typical for the Maruyama/Shijo school and could have originated with Maruyama Okyo. The image of a procession walking out of the painting symbolizes the fading away of Edo culture in the 19th century.

Hanging scroll. A circle on a black background, divided into ten sections around a white central circle that holds the character ‘shin’, meaning heart or soul. The ten sections represent the ten realms that are the ten possibilities of rebirth. On top the four realms of enlightened beings: Buddhas, Boshisattvas, arhats and pratyeka Buddhas. Underneath, the six realms (rokudo): Heavenly beings, humans, Bellicose demons (Ashura), animals, hungry ghosts and hell. Ink, mineral colors, gofun and gold on paper. Japan, Edo period, 19th century.

Image: 29.25 x W 21 inches. Mounting: 44.25 x 26.5 inches. Silver scroll ends decorated with cut out peonies on rocks mounted over a sentoku core.

Punch hole in bottom, stabilized by mounting, few small rubbed spots, dent in scroll end.

Hanging scroll. Shoki holds Futen’s wind bag which balloons around him and protects him from a very light rain. While Shoki has his hands full trying to control the wind bag, his bulging eyes are rolled in defeat and annoyance towards the right, where a little demon who has a Chinese mortar on his head and holds the pestle in its hand jumps in front of him.
Ink and color on silk.
Signed and red artist’s seal.
Japan, Taisho or early Showa era, 1920s-1930s.

Image: H 43.25 x W 16.5 in.
Mounting: H 76.5 x W 21.5 in.
W scroll ends: 23.5 in.

Light brown stains in the backing paper. All in all very good condition.

Hanging scroll. Black ink, light colors and gofun on paper.
Painting of the demon of Rashomon stealing back his severed arm from Watanabe no Tsuna. Excellent use of dry-brush technique.
Signed: Yoshimitsu saku, seal Hoko. Japan, Taisho/Showa era.
Newly mounted with original embroidered brocade.
Image: 24 x 12.5 inches.
Total length: 58 inches.

Few old water stains on brocade, few tiny stabilized damages in paper, some damage to embroidery, all in all very good condition.

Hanging scroll, painting in ink and red color on silk. Portait of a female Daruma (onna Daruma), wrapped in a red garment. Beautiful and serene face.
Signed and red artist seal in the lower right corner.
Japan, Taisho era, 1920s

Painting: H 43.25 x W 15.75 in.
Mounting: H 79.5 x W 21.5 in.
W with scroll ends 24.5 in.

Mounting probably original to the painting

Some brown specks in the silk and light brown spots on the paper of the mounting, few short cracks in the silk, few restored missing spots in the mounting. All in all good and stable condition.

Hanging scroll. A dragon shoots upwards through the clouds. Its head clearly visible, pointing straight up, the tail faintly disappearing in the darkness of the sky. Black ink on silk. Very skillful use of many shades of black and gray. Signed and dated in the lower left: Bunka year of the dog (1814), Fuyu and artist’s red seal Rintai.
Japan

Image: H 52.5 x W 20 in. Mounting: H 81.5 x W 25 in. (lower roller 27.25 in. wide)

Mounting in excellent condition, painting too.