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Lot Essay
What is supremely appealing about this iron dragon is the fierceness of its face and the remarkable details of its body. The head of this dragon shows fine details worked in uchidashi (translate literally as “hammered”), known as special technique for creating three-dimensional, sculptural works from a thin iron sheet by hammering. The Myochin family of armorers was particularly skilled at this technique of uchidashi and the details on the present lot suggest that this dragon was made by a highly skilled Myochin artist from Edo period.
Myochin Munesuke (1642-c. 1735), whose name appears on the lot here, aggrandized his lineage with the Myochin rekidai zofuku, a list of supposed ancestors tracing back several centuries. The Myochin flourished, founding branch schools in the provinces. By the middle Edo period, the Myochin were confident enough to style themselves as”On katchu no kiwame-dokoro, Nippon yuitsu no katchu no ryoko,” or “official appraisers of armour, the best in Japan.” There were successive generations of skilled armourers using the name Munesuke, though the work attributed to the first of that line may be considered the finest.
Jizai okimono, articulated figures, in iron include dragons, snakes, shachi (imaginary fish with tiger head), carp, lobsters, crabs and insects. Their distinctive features are their naturalism and mobility. Sculpted animals are also found in other metals, ivory or wood. Of them all, there are more models of dragons because they symbolize the most powerful imaginary animal. For warriors displaying their military prowess, dragons were the ideal motif to decorate their arms and armor.
The earliest known jizai dragon is in the Tokyo National Museum, formerly in the Anderson Collection in England and, later, the Lundgren Collection in Sweden. There are inscriptions under the chin giving the date of 1713 (the third year of the Shotoku era) and an artist’s signature, Myochin Muneaki. Judging from such other makers’ names as Myochin Yoshihisa and Myochin Nobumasa inscribed on jizai dragons, it is clear that armorers of the Myochin school made a number of jizai dragons during the Edo period. Many of these Myochin armorers were retained by warrior lords (daimyo), so it is natural that they were responsible for their favored subject, dragons, in sculptural form.
Myochin Munesuke (1642-c. 1735), whose name appears on the lot here, aggrandized his lineage with the Myochin rekidai zofuku, a list of supposed ancestors tracing back several centuries. The Myochin flourished, founding branch schools in the provinces. By the middle Edo period, the Myochin were confident enough to style themselves as”On katchu no kiwame-dokoro, Nippon yuitsu no katchu no ryoko,” or “official appraisers of armour, the best in Japan.” There were successive generations of skilled armourers using the name Munesuke, though the work attributed to the first of that line may be considered the finest.
Jizai okimono, articulated figures, in iron include dragons, snakes, shachi (imaginary fish with tiger head), carp, lobsters, crabs and insects. Their distinctive features are their naturalism and mobility. Sculpted animals are also found in other metals, ivory or wood. Of them all, there are more models of dragons because they symbolize the most powerful imaginary animal. For warriors displaying their military prowess, dragons were the ideal motif to decorate their arms and armor.
The earliest known jizai dragon is in the Tokyo National Museum, formerly in the Anderson Collection in England and, later, the Lundgren Collection in Sweden. There are inscriptions under the chin giving the date of 1713 (the third year of the Shotoku era) and an artist’s signature, Myochin Muneaki. Judging from such other makers’ names as Myochin Yoshihisa and Myochin Nobumasa inscribed on jizai dragons, it is clear that armorers of the Myochin school made a number of jizai dragons during the Edo period. Many of these Myochin armorers were retained by warrior lords (daimyo), so it is natural that they were responsible for their favored subject, dragons, in sculptural form.