A WOOD MODEL OF THE CHINESE MASTER BO YA PLAYING THE ZITHER

MEIJI PERIOD (CA. 1900), SIGNED UNKAI TO AND SEALED (YONEHARA UNKAI; 1869-1925)

Details

A WOOD MODEL OF THE CHINESE MASTER BO YA PLAYING THE ZITHER
MEIJI PERIOD (CA. 1900), SIGNED UNKAI TO AND SEALED (YONEHARA UNKAI; 1869-1925)
Sculpted as an old man sensitively playing the zither alluding to the Legend of the Broken Strings
11 in. (28 cm)

Literature

Kuo Hong-Sheng and Chang Yuan-Feng, chief eds. et al., Meiji no bi / Splendid Beauty: Illustrious Crafts of the Meiji Period (Taipei: National Taiwan Normal University Research Center for Conservation of Cultural Relics, 2013), pp. 136-139.

Exhibited

Second Nihon Chokokai ten (Japan Sculptors Society exhibition), listed as exhibited in September 1-30, Meiji 43 (1900) in Taishoki bijutsukan rankai sakuhin mokuroku (Index of works of art exhibited in the [Meiji and] Taisho period)
Preparatory Office of the National Headquarters of Taiwan Traditional Arts, “Japan Arts of Meiji Period; Asia-Pacific Traditional Arts Festival Special Exhibition,” 2011.7.8-2012.1.8. cat. p. 60.
“Meiji Kogei: Amazing Japanese Art,” cat. no. 35, shown at the following venues:
Tokyo Geijutsu Daigaku Bijutsukan (Tokyo University of the Arts Museum), 2016.9.7-10.30
Hosomi Bijutsukan (Hosomi Museum, Kyoto), 2016.11.12-12.25
Kawagoe Shiritsu Bijutsukan (Kawagoe City Art Museum), 2017.4.22-6.11

Brought to you by

Takaaki Murakami

tmurakami@christies.com 212 636 2158

Lot Essay

The sculpture alludes to the story known as the Legend of the Broken Strings. It concerns the scholar Bo Ya and his younger friend Zhong Ziqi of the Warring States period (475-221 B.C.). According to the legend, Boya was an accomplished qin player. But it was not until he met the woodcutter Zhong Ziqi that he found a listener who truly understood his music. The two became fast friends, and when Zhong died, Boya broke his strings and refused to ever play again. The camaraderie of these two men is commemorated by the phrase zhi-yin, “to know music”, which is a metaphor for close friendship.

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