Studio: international art (74.1918)

Studio- Talk

A CELEBRATED TEA-BOWL (YOHEN
TEMMOKU JAWAN)

(Sold at Viscount Inaba's sale in Tokyo for
167,000 yen—nearly £17,000)

and no less than two dozen big art sales have
already been scheduled to be held at the
Tokyo Fine Art Club. The first of importance
took place recently, when Viscount Inaba's
collection was offered. Among a number of
important paintings sold was a small kake-
mono by Tokko-Zenji, which fetched 16,800
yen. The subject was Daruma, and the paint-
ing is said to be the famous one known as The
Blood, Daruma of Hosokawa, which was once
saved from being destroyed by fire by a loyal
vassal, who, when unable to escape, cut open
his abdomen to make a hiding-place for the
priceless roll, hence the name, Blood Daruma.

The sale included a splendid work by Hana-
busa-Iccho, a set of three kakemono with a
waterfall for the centre, a stream and swallows
on one side, and swallows and waves on the
other—which realized 11,180 yen, and another
triple set by Sesshyu, with Daruma in the
centre, a wild duck and reeds on the right, and
a heron and reeds on the left. Though sold
for the modest sum of 1290 yen, this latter
set of kakemono is an excellent example of
Sesshyu's painting. The heron on the alert,
the wild duck burying its beak under its wing,
half asleep upon one leg—all suggest the
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mental struggle of the keen-eyed Daruma, who sat
in meditation facing a stone wall for nine years.
Other items of interest included a pair, of six-
panelled screens (which once belonged to the eighth
Tokugawa Shogun), with black monochrome draw-
ings by Kano-Eitoku of a dragon and tiger; a charm-
ing little kakemono with an autumnal landscape
painted by Watanabe Kwazan, who still inspires
our artists ; and a large kakemono of a group of
monkeys at a waterfall painted by Shibata-Zeshin,
who showed special talent in drawing waterfalls.

The sale included a number of cha-no-yu utensils:
tea-bowls, caddies, chasaji(spoons for pulverized tea)
water-jars, etc. The greatest among them—perhaps
the greatest of its kind in Japan—was a tea-bowl
known as "Yohen Temmoku Jawan," and classed as
a meibutsu or celebrated piece. It fetched the enor-

" GROUP OF MONKEYS AT A WATERFALL"
BY SHIBATA-ZESHIN

( Viscount Inaba's sale, 3118 yen)