“Ishiyama-dera”
石山寺図
Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk
105.0 x 40.6 cm. (41 3/8 x 16 in.)
Inscription:
“Shuitsu.”
Artist’s seal:
Gencho
“Courtesans in Procession”
Hanging scroll, ink and color on paper
14.0 x 30.0 cm. (5 1/2 x 11 3/4 in.)
Inscription:
“Sobun,” followed by a poem by the artist.
Artist’seal:
Sobun
“Berlin Landscape” 1931
伯林郊外
Hanging scroll, ink and color on paper
37.5 x 33.0 cm. (14 3/4 x 13 in.)
Inscription:
“Spring Colors on the Outskirts of Berlin. On the eleventh day of the second month, painted by the Daoist Suiun.”
Artist’s seals:
Suiun; Mikan
Box inscription:
“Scene on the Outskirts of Berlin, painted by Komuro Suiun and owned by Sozan.”
By various artists including Kunshita Itsuum (1799- 1866),
Mori Kansai (1814-1894) and Kunii Oyo
Ink, ink and color on paper
Dimensions: ranging from 1.9 x 11.4 cm. (3/4 x 4 1/2 in.)
to 13.7 x 21.3 cm. (5 3/8 x8 3/8 in.)
1. Mie (19th c.)
14 double leaves, ink and color on paper
10.2 x 14.2 cm. (4 x 5 5/8 in.)
2. Kinoshita Itsuum (1799-1866)
14 double leaves, ink and color on paper, dated 1862
13.7 x 21.3 cm. (5 3/8 x 8 3/8 in.)
3. Mori Kansai (1814-1894)
9 double leaves, ink and color on paper
1.9 x 11.4 cm. (3/4 x 4 1/2 in.)
4. Various 19th c. artists
7 double leaves, ink and color on paper
9.5 x 5.7 cm. (3 3/4 x 2 1/4 in.)
5. Various Meiji period artists
9 double leaves, ink and color on paper
11.8 x 15.6 cm. (4 5/8 x 6 1/8 in.)
6. Various artists
2 volumes of 14 leaves each, ink and color on paper
6.0 x 7.6 cm. (2 3/8 x 3 in.)
7. Kunii Ôyô
14 double leaves- ink and color on paper
4.2 x 10.2 cm. (1 5/8 x 4 in.)
8. Oguri Ken-ichi (Priest at Higashi Honganji)
15 double leaves- ink on paper, dated 1877
11.8 x 9.2 cm. (4 5/8 x 3 5/8 in.)
Length: 4.4 cm. (1 3/4 in.)
Width: 2.6 cm. (1 in.)
Depth: 2.0 cm. (3/4 in.)
Eastern Zhou dynasty
東周期初
6th-5th century B.C.
Length: 33.0 cm. (13″)
Eastern Zhou, Warring States period
東周・戦国時代
5th-3rd century B.C.
Length: 25.4 cm. (10 in.)
Eastern Zhou, late Warring States period
東周・戦国晩期
3rd century B.C.
The box illustrated here is one of a set of seven, described below. We focus on this particular box since the shape is so unusual, the outlier out among the standard sets of seven produced by Western Han craftsmen, shapes which are otherwise simply square, rectangular, oval and circular. Referred to as madi, “horse-hoof,” shape by the Chinese, it is difficult to point to the origins of the shape. Nothing precedent has presented itself and one is led to assume that the shape was devised to form, with the six other boxes completing each set, a perfect circle, sometimes discovered fitted snugly into large circular containers that comprised these cosmetic sets.