80 5119 Album with 19 painted and calligraphed tanzaku

80 5119 Album with 19 painted and calligraphed tanzaku

80 5119 Album with 19 painted and calligraphed tanzaku

80 5119 Album with 19 painted and calligraphed tanzaku

- Some of the tanzaku (sl.) foxed; some w. sl. dam. corners.

= Tanzaku refers to long, vertical strips of paper on which poems are written. These poems (or paintings) can be displayed on so-called tanzaku-kake (tanzaku-holder or -stand). Tanzaku are also often used during the festival of Tanabata to write wishes on, sometimes in the form of poetry, to be hung on bamboo branches. The tanzaku in this album show a variety of subjects, such as animals, people or natural scenes.

80 5120 Anonymous late 18th/ early 19th cent

80 5120 Anonymous late 18th/ early 19th cent

80 5120 Anonymous late 18th/ early 19th cent

80 5120 Anonymous late 18th/ early 19th cent

80 5120 Anonymous late 18th/ early 19th cent

80 5120 Anonymous late 18th/ early 19th cent

80 5120 Anonymous late 18th/ early 19th cent

80 5120 Anonymous late 18th/ early 19th cent

80 5120 Anonymous late 18th/ early 19th cent

80 5120 Anonymous late 18th/ early 19th cent

80 5120 Anonymous late 18th/ early 19th cent

80 5120 Anonymous late 18th/ early 19th cent

= Splendid Chinese export watercolours showing the various activities on a Chinese tea plantation, including the transport. The Wellcome collection holds a similar series of 9 scenes (albeit slighty more naive). In 2022 Christie's Paris (collection of Hubert de Givenchy) sold a set of 24 slightly bigger gouaches of which several with almost the exact same composition or very similar to this lot (including mirrored compositions). Besides various small differences (mostly seen in the details), the human figures in our lot seem to be more precise and European, especially in their faces. SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE XLIII.

80 5121 Anonymous 19th cent

- A few sm. wormholes in lower part.

80 5123 Anonymous 19th cent

= With an annotation on mount attributing this drawing to Sugakudo.

80 5125 Anonymous 1st half 20th cent

80 5125 Anonymous 1st half 20th cent

- Occas. silk cloth loosening from the board at the corners, otherwise fine.

= Each painting shows a view of the same (unidentified) temple complex in a different season, with various buildings, trees and a lake with a bridge. The title is painted on the lid of the box, and the inside of the lid bears the (unidentified) artist's signature.

80 5126 Bairei 1844 1895

- Both (sl.) waterstained along top; (sl.) faded; w. binding holes in blank margin.

80/5127 Bankoku chishi ryaku

- One map edges frayed; two maps w. waterstain; one vol. trifle wormholed. One vol. probably a different ed.

= Three Japanese vols. from the Meiji period aimed at people studying to become teachers, briefly introducing the countries of the world.

80 5129 Chinese drawings Anonymous late 19th/ early 20 cent

- Vaguely waterst. = SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE XLIV.

80/5130 Chinese export watercolours Man having a tea ceremony

- Some small tears/ cracks; sl. foxed.

80/5131 Chinese rubbings Lot of 11 rubbings showing animals

80/5131 Chinese rubbings Lot of 11 rubbings showing animals

= "For more than 1,500 years rubbings have been a vital medium for preserving China's art, culture, and history. These beautiful works are made by pressing thin sheets of wet paper into carvings or inscriptions cut in stone or other hard materials and carefully inking the surface to create a copy of the original. The resulting rubbing has white impressions where the paper was pressed into the carving surrounded by a typically black ink field. Because they are easily transported, rubbings quickly became the primary means to faithfully reproduce and share historical data, poetry, scholastic texts, calligraphy, and art throughout China. Due to the loss and deterioration of many original stones through the centuries, rubbings frequently are the sole remaining evidence of a significant portion of China's artistic and cultural heritage." (quoted from the website of the Field museum: https://www.fieldmuseum.org/collection/chinese-rubbings-collection).

80/5132 Chinese rubbings Lot of 11 rubbings showing seals

80/5132 Chinese rubbings Lot of 11 rubbings showing seals

= "For more than 1,500 years rubbings have been a vital medium for preserving China's art, culture, and history. These beautiful works are made by pressing thin sheets of wet paper into carvings or inscriptions cut in /stone or other hard materials and carefully inking the surface to create a copy of the original. The resulting rubbing has white impressions where the paper was pressed into the carving surrounded by a typically black ink field. Because they are easily transported, rubbings quickly became the primary means to faithfully reproduce and share historical data, poetry, scholastic texts, calligraphy, and art throughout China. Due to the loss and deterioration of many original stones through the centuries, rubbings frequently are the sole remaining evidence of a significant portion of China's artistic and cultural heritage." (quoted from the website of the Field museum: https://www.fieldmuseum.org/collection/chinese-rubbings-collection).

80 5133 Furuya Kôrin 1875 1910

80 5133 Furuya Kôrin 1875 1910

80 5133 Furuya Kôrin 1875 1910

- Occas. trifle foxed; a few leaves in one vol. sl. wormholed in inner margin, not affecting images. Contents fine. Edges sl. worn.

= Shima shima, or "Stripes", contains a lovely collection of vibrant multicoloured woodcut textile designs by Furuya Kôrin (1875-1910), showing, as the name suggests, mostly stripes. Kôrin was an artist, illustrator and designer active in Meiji period Kyoto. He was heavily influenced by Ogata Kôrin (1658-1716) of the Rinpa school of painting, to the point where he adopted the name Kôrin and referred to himself as "Kôrin of the modern age". SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE XLIV.

80 5134 Gekko 1859 1920

- Sl. dustsoiled; w. contemp. manuscript annotation in Japanese in upper right corner.

= Gekko fan prints (uchiwa-e) are very rare, because they were usually used and laid down on fans.

80 5135 Harunobu 1724 1770

- Browned and faded; horizontal fold in the middle; (unobtrusive) crease along top-right margin. Verso shows traces of mounting; sticker pasted in lower left corner on verso; sm. repaired tear in the sleeve of the lower figure; reinforced section behind head of upper figure.