Japan Antique Tea Master Ceremony Guide Double Scroll Matsudara Fumai 1751-1818

Japan, a rare paper scroll hand painted by renown Rengetsu Otagaki (1791-1875). She was a very famous nun in old Japan and being familiar with poetry, her Waka poems on paper, and e...

The first we have seen A spectacular and hard to find Inlaid mother of pearly - using the raden technique- and lacquered three-drawer Tansu complete with all original bronze accoutrement including a fine engraved antique long pipe and two removable covered bronze cylinders all executed by expert mid-19th century Edo samurai...

A very fine and delicate Japanese antique hand-painted silk scroll of four playful, diving swallows , likely sparrows or warblers, amidst a plumb tree and waterfall, Taisho period. ...

A bold, spectacular Japanese hand-brushed, hand-painted silk scroll of two horses below plumb tree mountain- worthy of your favorite room Hand painting on silk in simple soft pleasin...

A ceramic tall chaire (Tea caddies) ko-satsuma type from Edo period Japan circa 18th century. This type of small jar was made of stoneware. Its specific form with raised shoulder and...

Three Friends of Winter Nakajima Raisho (1796-1871) Late Edo period, circa 1850 Ink and gold leaf on paper. This is a double-sided Japanese Furosaki or tea-ceremony screen from the mid 19th century; bamboo and plum on the front, young pines the back. It by Nakajima Raisho, a master painter of the Maruyama school in the late Edo and early Meiji periods. In this work Raisho combines exquisite ink brushwork with large open spaces of brilliant gold-leaf to inspire the viewers imagination. Rather than naturalism, he is searching for the phycological impression of the motifs, resulting in abstraction and stylization. His simplification of the motifs the result of looking to capture the inner nature of the objects. This art motif is known as Sho Chiku Bai, or the Three Friends of Winter. Evergreen pine connotes steadfastness, bamboo suggests both strength and flexibility, while plum blossoms unfurling on snow-laden branches imply hardiness. Combined, this trio is emblematic of Japanese new year. Chinese literati were the first to group the three plants together due to their noble characteristics. Like these resilient plants flowering so beautifully in winter, it was expected of the scholar-gentleman to cultivate a strong character with which he would be able to show the same degree of perseverance and steadfastness even during times of adverse conditions. The screen would have been placed near the hearth of a room used for the Japanese tea ceremony, shielding the fire from draughts and also forming a stimulating and decorative backdrop behind the tea utensils. It would have been used in the Hatsugama, or first tea-ceremony of the new year. Nakajima Raisho (1796-1871) originally studied under Watanabe Nangaku before entering the school of Maruyama Ozui. He was the highest ranking Maruyama school painter at the end of the Edo period and was known as one of the ‘Four Heian Families’ along with Kishi...

Wonderfully large and bold tiger painted in ink and mineral pigments on silk mounted with silk brocade border. Seal reads: Miyaguchi (alternative reading: ...

This is a set of four antique Chinese Dali stone panels which depict wonderful landscape images. The stone is set in an ebonized panel frame. They look wo...