Studio: international art (75.1918)

Studio- Talk

"jizo-son" (helper of the afflicted)
carved wood figure

{Mr. Takahashi's sale, 6880 yen)

TOKYO.—One of the most interesting
art sales of recent times took place
not long ago when the collection of
Takahashi-Yoshio, a connoisseur and
a student of cha-no-yu art, was dispersed at the
Tokyo Fine Art Club and realized 350,000 yen.
Though other sales of late have yielded more in
money, few of them have been more interesting
than that of Mr. Takahashi from the standpoint
of " a man with tea," who is susceptible to the
serio-comic interests of personal drama, who
appreciates the subtle beauty in the incon-
sistencies of life. The collection consisted
mainly of paintings, calligraphs, and lacquer
and porcelain ware used in connexion with the
cha-no-yu rite. Each object displayed showed
marks of the tender care with which it had been
handled and fondled. It may be interesting to
observe that while we attach an inestimable

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value to that indescribable something which
time alone can give to a cha-no-yu utensil—a
bowl, for instance—we abhor dirt and soil.

Among the paintings offered, Mokuan's
Kwannon, a small kakemono, fetched the highest
price in the whole sale, 31,000 yen. Profound
is the calm repose, the serene dignity, and
noble simplicity revealed in this black mono-
chrome drawing of the Goddess of Mercy.
Shokei's Landscape, another small kakemono,
sold for 5000 yen, showed the grandeur and sub-
limity of Nature and human efforts to attain it.
A most effective use has been made of the un-
painted part, the blank space—one of the most
valuable qualities of our paintings which our

landscape by shokei

{Mr, Takakashts sale, 5000 yen)