Lot 56
56
A RARE AND IMPORTANT KAGETSUDAI [DRINKING SET FOR MOON AND FLOWER VIEWING] BY YAMAMOTO MITSUTOSHI (1839- 1908)
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A RARE AND IMPORTANT KAGETSUDAI [DRINKING SET FOR MOON AND FLOWER VIEWING] BY YAMAMOTO MITSUTOSHI (1839- 1908)

WITH FITTED BOXES SIGNED YAMAMOTO MITSUTOSHI, MEIJI PERIOD (LATE 19TH/EARLY 20TH CENTURY

Details
A RARE AND IMPORTANT KAGETSUDAI [DRINKING SET FOR MOON AND FLOWER VIEWING] BY YAMAMOTO MITSUTOSHI (1839- 1908)
With fitted boxes signed Yamamoto Mitsutoshi, Meiji Period (Late 19th/Early 20th century
The stand decorated in gold and black togidashi-e, gold takamaki- e and hiramaki-e and gold foil; the cups with kinji grounds decorated in gold, black and silver takamaki-e and hiramaki- e; the undersides nashiji; fitted box signed Yamamoto Mitsutoshi saku [made by Yamamoto Mitsutoshi] with a seal Mitsutoshi

The three sakazuki [sake cups] of graduated size with images of a bugaku [court dance] performance: a Ranryo-o dancer in a mask, two butterfly dancers and two bugaku drums enclosed by curtains; the undersides with various musical instruments; the kagetsudai [moon and flower stand] with two tall, tapered legs pierced with rectangular apertures on each side; the top with bands of cloud, lifting off a shallow well which collects wine spilled through three horizontal slots; the legs of the stand with young pines and bamboo
Kagetsudai 7 7/8 x 9 5/8 x 9 5/8in. (19.8 x 24.4 x 24.4cm.)
Sakazuki 5 3/8, 5 7/8 and 6 3/8in. (13.7, 14.9 and 16.1 cm.) diam. (4)
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Yamamoto Mitsutoshi (1839-1908), whose signature appears on the accompanying storage box, was the fifth master in the Yamamoto Rihei line. He started his career as an official supplier to the Imperial house, making wedding sets and utensils for the Meiji Emperor's enthronement ceremony as well as a scabbard, writing-box and writing-table presented to the shogun Iemochi (1846- 66). After the Meiji Restoration (1868) he was a frequent participant in domestic and international exhibitions and did much to preserve and develop maki-e in Kyoto.1 His pupils included Harui Komin (b. 1869), who made a sumptuous, ultra-traditional cabinet presented to the Prince of Wales in 1921.2

1 Takao Yo, 'Kinsei maki-eshi meikan 4 [A list of Edo- and Meiji-period maki-e artists, 4]', Rokusho, 20 (1996), (104-10), 109; Andrew J. Pekarik, Japanese Lacquer, 1600-1900: Selections from the Charles A. Greenfield Collection (New York, 1980), p. 44.
2 T. Goke, J. Hutt, and E.A. Wrangham, The Khalili Collection: Treasures of Imperial Japan, vol. 4, Lacquer (London, 1995), vol. 2, no. 231.

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