A HIRATA SCHOOL KOZUKA

Details

A HIRATA SCHOOL KOZUKA
EARLY EDO PERIOD (CIRCA 1625), ATTRIBUTED TO HIRATA DONIN

The polished shakudo frame is decorated in gold wire and colored enamels with Mt. Fuji in relief; the base is blue and the snow-capped peak is white, the cloud areas are red and yellow; the back has bold filed pattern with grooves in gold--length 9.4cm., width 1.4cm., thickness 6.75mm.

Double wood storage boxes. Inner box with inscription by Sato Kanzan, dated autumn, 1974.

Accompanied by a tokubetsu kicho certificate issued by the N.B.T.H.K., no. 5898, and dated July 10th, 1976; and a juyo kodogu certificate issued by the N.B.T.H.K., no.

Provenance

Aoyama, Paris

Literature

Homma, Sato, Ogawa and Compton (1976), no. XXII, p. 122.
Juyo token (1976), part III, p. 198.
L'Arcade Chaumet (1976), no. 28, p. 8.
Mino and Robinson (1983), no. 24, p. 24.
One Hundred Masterpieces (1992), no. 97.

Lot Essay

Little is known of the early work of Hirata Donin (1590-1646) but when he began to decorate with gold and cloisonné, he established a new and very popular style of sword fitting. Before Donin the majority of cloisonné pieces resembled Chinese work of the same period; Ming dynasty Chinese cloisonné provided the model of choice. Donin developed a technique employing gold wire cloisons with clear glass for his colors and thus achieved a stained glass effect. This example is doro shippo (opaque enamel); when employed on iron plate it was normal to use a translucent glass.

Donin trained his successors well, for the work of Narikazu (Hirata II), Narihisa (Hirata III) and the many students and descendants that followed not only maintained his traditions but added new imagery in every generation. Donin was a retainer of Tokugawa Ieyasu; his followers were retained by the Tokugawa bakufu until the Meiji Restoration.