Beschreibung:

SHIBATA ZESHIN (1807-1891)An Album of Eleven Miniature Urushi-e (Lacquer Paintings) Meiji era (1868–1912), circa 1885–1886 With a calligraphic title page, bound in orihon (concertina) style, the blank pages covered in gold-painted paper, the cover of silk brocade woven with geometric and floral designs and bearing a blank gold-paper title slip, the title page and paintings as follows: 1) Title page inscribed with a single black urushi-e character Ga (Elegance) and signed Yowai hachiju Tairyukyo Zeshin (Tairyukyo Zeshin, in his eightieth year) 2) The trunk and branch of an ancient pine tree by a river, with bamboo grass in the foreground; signed Zeshin and sealed Shin 3) A turtle climbing into a sakazuki (sake cup) inscribed Kotobuki (Long life); signed Zeshin and sealed Shin 4) A branch of plum and a bowl with bamboo chopsticks and tororo (grated yam), perhaps with fish and seaweed, served as a New-Year dish; signed Zeshin and sealed Shin 5) Butterflies and spring plants—warabi (fern), tanpopo (dandelion), bamboo, and bamboo grass—by a stream; signed Zeshin and sealed Shin 6) Pine trees with a swallow flying overhead; signed Gyonen nanajukyu-o Zeshin (Zeshin, aged 79) and sealed Shin 7) Five clam shells; signed and sealed Zeshin 8) Pumpkin, daikon, and two aubergines; signed Zeshin and sealed Ze 9) A mountainous pine-clad shore with fishing boats, gulls, and a shiofuki (whale's spout) in the foreground; signed Zeshin and sealed Ze 10) A snake and reeds; signed Zeshin and sealed Shin 11) A sailing boat by a rock with the branch of a tree; signed Zeshin and sealed Ze 12) A gardener's bamboo basket with fruits of hozuki (Chinese lantern plant, Physalis alkekengi); signed Zeshin with an unidentified seal; with a fitted wood tomobako inscribed outside Tairyukyo Zeshin hitsu urushi-e cho (Album of lacquer paintings brushed by Tairyukyo Zeshin); signed inside Chikushin shiki (Recorded by Chikushin), with an unidentified seal; also with silk brocade chitsu (outer wrapper). Overall: 1.7cm × 3.7cm × 6.9cm (5/8in × 1½in × 2¾in); each painting: 6.4cm × 5.2cm (2½in × 2in). (3).FootnotesProvenance: A Royal Collection. For a similar single-character inscription by Zeshin, in an album dating from 1882–1883, compare Shibata Zeshin no shikko, urushi-e, kaiga (Shibata Zeshin: From Lacquer Arts to Painting), exh. cat., Tokyo, 2012, cat. no.111.8 (also Sebastian Izzard, Zeshin: The Catherine and Thomas Edson Collection, San Antonio, San Antonio Museum of Art, 2007, cat. no.44.1). Shoji Chikushin (1854–1936), whose go or art name was Kakan'an, was a leading pupil of Zeshin who often signed boxes authenticating his work.