Written by Surya Rutten | 3rd April 2019
In our Expert’s Choice feature, one of our in-house experts shares their favourite items in auction. This week our Asian Art & Objects expert, Surya Rutten, selects four items from our special Dutch private collection auction.
1. Six panel byobu screen with a painting of geese and peonies near a rock on gold leaf ground. Meiji period.
Six panel byobu screen with geese and peonies
The white-fronted goose is mostly dark brown, with greyish tints. In size it is midway between a mallard and a swan. It has been a familiar bird since ancient times, and appears frequently in Japanese folk tales, poems, literature, and folklore. It was often the subject of paintings on folding screens and was a popular motif in family crests. It is one of the symbols used to depict autumn. The white-fronted goose is mentioned in 80 poems in the Man’yōshū, an eighth century anthology of Japanese poetry, and is second only to the little cuckoo. In Japan the peony symbolises bravery.
2. A red lacquered suit of armour yoroi with a two-pieces cuirass (shū’urushinuri okegawa nimaidō gosoku). Early Showa period.
A red lacquered suit-of-armour yoroi with a two-pieces cuirass
A large hoshikabuto helmet with kuwagata-antlers combined with a dragon relief maedate and a large fukikaeshi decorated with smoked leather and at the back a large tassel. Four large shikoro neckguards. A brown lacquered old man facial mask (resseibō) with white moustache and a red lacquered four-piece gorget (nodowa). Six-piece red lacquered sode with blue cords protect the shoulders.
The arms are covered with red lacquered shinokote with vertical metal strips and Japanese mail. A brown bucket shaped two-piece cuirass (nimaidō) from which hang six five-piece kusazuri. Large haidate with brocate and laced karuta metal pieces protect the upperlegs. Suneate that protect the lower legs have vertikal metal strips (shinosuneate). With a waistband. In a suit-of-armour box (yoroibako).
3. Set of a black lacquered writing box with matching large paper box decorated with Mount Fuji in silver maki-e lacquer. Early Showa period.
Set black lacquered writing box & large paper box
Almost square writing box (suzuribako), decorated in raised takamakie- lacquer with pinetrees on the beach and in the distance hills on a sea coast. Inside black lacquered with two boxes for brushes, an inkstone and a silver gourd shaped waterdropper. The paper box (ryōshibako) is decorated with Mount Fuji in the distance and a design of temples and mountains in silver and gold maki-e lacquer, the lid at the inside has three aubergines in raised gold and silver takamakie-lacquer.
4. A black patinated bronze figure of bodhisattva Kannon as Bodhisattva Samantabhadra sitting astride on her mount, a caparisoned elephant. Late Edo-Meiji period.
Bronze figure of bodhisattva Kannon
The hands held in a rare version of the vitarka mudra (the teaching gesture) with thumb and forefinger joined. Samantabhadra is the Bodhisattva associated with the practise of Buddhist teaching and joins Manjushri, the lord of transcendent wisdom, in a trinity with Shakyamuni Buddha. The Bodhisattva is borne by a white elephant, symbolic of the strength achieved through the practise of Buddhism.
About the Dutch private collection
This Dutch collection has high quality items from Japan, ranging from the early periods to the Showa period. All items have been collected with the same eye for quality and detail. These beautiful items not only appeal to collectors but also to people looking for a special object or an eye catcher for in their interior. There are items for the young collector and for the more specialised collector in different price ranges, which makes this a very nice auction for those interested in Japanese and Asian Art and Antiques.
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Find these objects and more in this week's Exclusive Japanese Private Collection auction.
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