Myochin Dragon

[Clive Sinclaire]

Gentlemen

I am sure many of you have already seen the Christie's New York, March 18th sale. In it there is a fabulous articulated dragon by Myochin Nobumasa. It is accompanied by a very interesting essay on the subject of articulated animals written by my good friend Victor Harris, who is Hon Presdident of To-ken Society pf GB.

I am pleased that we have obtained permission to reproduce this on our website at http://www.To-ken.com. You may wish to read it there.

Regards

Clive Sinclaire

Incidentally, the dragon is estimated at $200,000 - $300.000 !

[Justin Grant]

Clive that is a nice article and a nice dragon.

 

Rago sold a Myochin snake in December for 197K, so the dragon should fetch that plus. The snake was nice, but the dragon has much more detail.

[Brian]

And I know a person with a few of these (yes, I am sure a few of us know him) and I am sure he is smiling madly.

One of those buys a damn fine house here.

 

Brian

[estcrh]

[Justin Grant]

And I know a person with a few of these (yes, I am sure a few of us know him) and I am sure he is smiling madly.

One of those buys a damn fine house here.

 

Brian

 

Brian,

 

I just purchased a 4800 sf house built in 1870 fully restored to new conditions (1870) with all new amenities. For less than the snake cost. It's unreal.

[Jean]

Justin,

 

Just a non native question

 

What means "4800 sf"?

 

Are you sure of the dates "built in 1870" and "fully restored to new conditions in 1870"?

[estcrh]

Justin,

 

Just a non native question

 

What means "4800 sf"?

 

Jean, that is the size of the house in square feet, in meters it is equal to 445.9 I believe, 4800 sf would be quite large.

[Eric H]

The Lundgren Collection sale at Christie‘s London 1997 Nov 18 had a Dragon by Myochin Ki no Muneakira, 143 cm, Lot 285, and also an articulated Snake, 125 cm, Lot 279, by Myochin Muneyoshi, both in perfect condition.

 

Estimate Dragon: £ 50‘000/70‘000 - $ 81,000/110,000 unsold

Estimate Snake: £ 8‘000/10‘000 - $ 13,000/16,000 unsold

 

The Lundgren Dragon is by now the largest known Dragon

 

Eric

[Justin Grant]

Justin,

 

Just a non native question

 

What means "4800 sf"?

 

Are you sure of the dates "built in 1870" and "fully restored to new conditions in 1870"?

 

Hi Jean. The house was built in 1870, and last year they had it completely restored like it looked in 1870, except they has new electrical, new central AC and Heat, plumbing, new windows (look correct for energy efficient) etc. When you walk into it, it looks like the day it was built, but all the modern conveniences of a new house behind the walls.

 

Yes, Eric fixed my statement. The house is 4,800 square feet of living space. I now have a 600 Square Foot room just for my armor!

[Eric H]

The Myochin articulated Dragon, Lot 534, was sold for $ 425,000...

 

Eric

[Gabriel L]

I like jizai okimono, but as we have seen, that kind of money is in the territory of ubu signed Rai Kuniyuki, Kiyomaro, etc. I confess I don't follow precisely why someone would choose a decorative dragon over the very top of the sword market. You can have a nice Edo-period posable statue, or you can have a weapon of rank / spiritual & national icon / relic of 1250 / alchemical artwork in steel / emblem of honor. I know which I'd pick.

 

But I guess that's why this is the NMB and not the JOMB. :lol:

[Shogun8]

It is accompanied by a very interesting essay on the subject of articulated animals written by my good friend Victor Harris, who is Hon Presdident of To-ken Society pf GB.

I am pleased that we have obtained permission to reproduce this on our website at {C}http://www.To-ken.com. You may wish to read it there.

 

Hi Clive,

 

I've searched the site at the link provided but can't seem to find the article you mention. Can you help with navigating me to it?

 

Thanks.

[Lance]

http://www.to-ken.com/full.php?article=p00050&type=article

 

Regards,

Lance

[Shogun8]

http://www.to-ken.com/full.php?article=p00050&type=article

 

Regards,

Lance

Thanks, Lance!

[Sabius]

Little late to the party,
but I would like to ask if anybody knows any documented article, or even photos, or research done on dragons and snakes, how they were actually articulated, how these segments are connected together. There is almost no information about their internal mechanisms. 

Thanks

[Shogun8]

Hi Sabius,

 

The definitive book on the genre of jizai okimono is this one:

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/ROKUSHO-Articulated-iron-figures-Okimono-Japan/302721834672?rt=nc&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D52935%26meid%3D72a842eb153b422d841cde273de20696%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D10%26sd%3D372304811813%26itm%3D302721834672&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

 

It has some pictures and speaks a little about the construction techniques used, but I don't know of a technical article on the subject.

 

This may also be of interest:

 

https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/9QKSX9qsa8CjJQ

 

John

[Sabius]

Thank you John for your response, 

I was actually aware of that book and have already contacted the seller and asked if the book contains that technical information, still waiting for an answer.

I've actually contacted several museums, to ask if any of them have held some kind of a documented restoration/disassembly processes. Waiting for their responses as well.

[ken kata]

Hi John,

I'm not sure if You Tube has your answers, but, try searching jizai okimono , myochin jizai oikmono dragon.

 

Had several videos on articulated dragons.

The Crab one is interesting..

 

Dragon :  

               

Snake :   

Crab, how it's made:

 

Ise Ebi ( Spiny Lobster) :

[Sabius]

Thank you very much for your response and the effort that you put in it.

I have actually seen all of these videos and probably couple more. What they show is somewhat of an overview of a piece, but what I am interested in is more of a technical aspect of Jizai Okimono, like how these segments go and work together to get an articulated sculpture. What joints, hinges and other things were used in this process. This kind of information about Jizai Okimono isn't documented I guess (at least in English).

The Crab video seems to be the most technical, but it is not built the traditional way, as the crab parts are cast in forms where traditional ones were formed from sheet metal forming.

[Luc T]

There is an armor in the Fukui museum, with a dou and sode that move like a jizai okimono. There is a technical discription with drawingsn in the catalogue.

[Viper6924]

The large dragon, currently in Tokyo National Museum, was previously owned by the former president of the Swedish branch of NBTHK.

To my knowledge there are still some amazing examples of these pieces of art, within the borders to Sweden. They are truly amazing!

 

Jan

[Shogun8]

There is an armor in the Fukui museum, with a dou and sode that move like a jizai okimono. There is a technical discription with drawingsn in the catalogue.

 

Luc,

 

Do you have a picture of this armour?

[ken kata]

There is a new posting asking the same,  in the Jizai Okimono Thread in the Japanese Arts section.

Posted this You Tube video link here and there: 

 

 

 

[Shogun8]

I had the opportunity to meet the artist and see his amazing bird skeleton (along with several other pieces) in a sublime exhibition at Yoyogikamizonocho (Tea House in Yoyogi Park) last year.

 

 

 

 

[Luc T]

Here some pictures of the Echizen Matsudaira armor, mid 18th century

[Shogun8]

Thanks Luc, I know this armour - just didn't know the name or background!

[Sabius]

Thanks for sharing Luc, wonderful piece of armor.

[Luc T]

this branch of the Matsudaira were very much interested in Okimono, an they had a nice collection of it.    It is interesting to see that they used similar techniques for their armor.