MEIJI PERIOD (LATE 19TH CENTURY), SIGNED ON UNDERSIDE KOMEI (ISHIKAWA KOMEI; 1852-1913) AND SEALED ISHI

Details

An ivory carving of Kannon floating on a lotus leaf
Meiji period (late 19th century), signed on underside Komei (Ishikawa Komei; 1852-1913) and sealed Ishi
Delicately carved as Kannon (bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara) seated in a lotus-petal vessel, the movement through the air indicated by the trails of the long robes and tassels, the hair drawn up into an elaborate chignon and adorned with a head-ornament centered by a miniature figure of Amida (Amitabha Buddha) standing on a lotus platform, the figure of Kannon also embellished with jewelled necklaces, earrings and bracelets and the face meticulously rendered in serene contemplation with downcast eyes
9½in. (24.1cm.) long
With two original wood stands

Provenance

Noboriyama Chozo
The Late Grover M. Hermann (chairman of the board of the Martin-Marietta Corporation) and Sarah Hermann (acquired from Nagatani, Inc., Chicago, 2 January 1971)

Exhibited

"Dai yonkai Naikoku Kangyo Hakurankai" (The fourth National Industrial Exposition), Okazaki Park, Kyoto, 1895.4.1-7.31

Special notice

Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country.

Further details

IVORY AND WOOD SCULPTURE

We have seen how the establishment of the Tokyo School of Fine Arts and the Imperial Craftsman system contributed to the continuation of metal sculpture on a grand scale as new generations worked with the traditional methods of the sword-fittings makers of the Edo period.
Realism was assimilated into the portrait sculpture of the early members of the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, including Yamada Kisai (1864-1901), Takamura Koun (1852-1934), who was head of the wood sculpture department, and his pupil Yamazaki Choun (1867-1954). Choun had studied Buddhist sculpture for ten years under Takada Matsushiro in his native Bungo province until going to Tokyo to study under Koun. That was one year after the work he submitted to the Fourth Domestic Industrial Exhibition was purchased by the Imperial Household. The outstanding sculptor of the early twentieth century, he was appointed an Imperial Craftsman in 1934, and was decorated with a cultural medal in 1952, the year before his death. The standing figure of a man carrying a large gourd and titled Mountain Path (lot 143) may well be a self-portrait. It is known that Choun admired the painter Tanomura Chikuden (1777-1835; see lot 26), who often included a double gourd in his portraits (the dried double gourd was the favored container for carrying rice wine when traveling). Choun must have identified with the Nanga school of art, with its love of nature, and the Southern Song- style of landscape painting. A wood sculpture by Choun of Tanomura Chikuden seated and with a gourd by his side was sold at Christie's, London on 13 November 2002, lending credence to the theory of the artist's identification with Chikuden.

Ivory sculpture, which had originated in the traditions of netsuke carving, now came to be used for large works with a growing emphasis on naturalism and realism. There was at this time a sudden increase in importation of elephant ivory, which supplemented the marine ivory obtained from the northern seas. Among the works offered here is a figure of the bodhisattva Kannon reclining within the folds of a lotus leaf (lot 144). It is a superb carving by Ishikawa Komei (1852-1913), who together with the ivory sculptor Asahi Gyokuzan, was one of the elite group of Imperial Craftsmen. Komei worked in both ivory and wood; a wood sculpture of a wild boar that he made for the Tokyo National Museum in 1912 attests to his skill in that medium. The figure of Kannon compares with a similar piece depicting the bodhisattva Monju by the same artist in the collection of the Kiyomizu Sannenzaka Museum, Kyoto; it drew attention when exhibited among masterpieces of that museum in November 2011.

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Lot Essay

The Japonism movement in Europe and America encouraged an enormous increase in the export art market from Japan. Ivory craftsmen in flux after the societal changes wrought by the restoration of the emperor in 1867 responded to this demand, adapting traditional techniques to work designed for the West. But those ivory products were never regarded as works of art and the market for ivory entered a downturn. Ironically, this depression inspired serious young ivory artists, such as Ishikawa Komei, to reconceive ivory carving as sculptural fine art. Their efforts greatly promoted the modernization of Japanese sculpture in the Meiji period.

Ishikawa Komei was born in Tokyo. He learned painting under Kano Sosen (1765-1826) and ivory carving under the netsuke artist Kikugawa Masamitsu (1844-1867). In 1879 he cofounded the Kankokai (Industrial Promotion Association) with several prominent ivory carvers, including Kaneda Kenjiro (1847-?) and Asahi Gyokuzan (1843-1923). The following year the group changed its name, and by 1886 the society was sponsoring annual sculpture competitions. Komei, Kenjiro and Gyokuzan went on to form the influential Tokyo Chokokai (Tokyo Sculptors Association) in 1887.

In recognition of his skill and stature, Komei was appointed an Artist to the Imperial Household (Teishitsu Gigeiin) in 1890 along with Takamura Koun (1852-1934), another leading sculptor of the same period. Both also served as professors at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts.

For a standing ivory Kannon by Komei, see The Shoto Museum of Art et al., Nihon no zoge bijutsu: Meiji no zoge chokoku o chushin ni History of Japanese Ivory Carving: Gebori-Okimono and Shibayama of Meiji Period (Tokyo: The Shoto Museum of Art, 1996), color plate, p. 91. For his 1900 ivory figure of a falconer, shown in the Paris International Exposition and now in the Museum of Imperial Collections, Sannomaru Shozokan, Tokyo, see Tokyo National Museum et al., Seiki no saiten: Bankoku hakurankai no bijutsu Arts of East and West from World Expositions (Tokyo: NHK, NHK Promotion Co., Ltd.; Nihon Keizai Shinbun, Inc., 2004), pl. I-289.

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