Late Edo "Pilgrim" Kozuka

[SSt]

I purchased this kozuka aboout six months ago, I have exhausted my personal library, and have had little luck on the web.

Perhaps someone on the board can help shed some light?

 

Oh, and before the usual "advice" on what I should be collecting starts, as it always seems to do!, a point of clarification.

I did not buy this for the mei, when I first saw this little fellow I was drawn to how alive he was, I could feel him stretching to his task!

I bought it for its aethetic qualities, the combination/colours of the inlays used are quite unusual, especially the bright blue leggings/stockings. As to the katakiribori carving, I trust it speaks for its self.

 

A shibuichi kozuka, hirazogan inlay, katakiribori carving, late Edo.

The katakiribori carving is very confident and strong, no hesitation in the strokes.

The front is patinated brownish-blue shibuichi, there are inlays of silver(?), gold, orange copper and bright blue shibuichi(?).

The reverse is patinated dark blue, nekokaki yasuri (cat scratched).

 

The theme is a pilgrim stretching up on tip toe to write the name Hanabusa I (tcho) (英一(蝶)) on a temple senjafuda.

It may have been taken from this original Itcho sketch. The image is in the catalogue of an exhibition held at the GALERIE JANETTE OSTIER, PARIS 1965.

The other image (three pilgrims) is from a "reprint", (and re-interpretation?) of Itcho's sketch books dated 1891. The original(s) were published in the late 1700's, long after Itcho's death.

Hanabusa Itcho 英一蝶(1652-1724),was a painter, calligrapher, and haiku poet. Many tosogu artists have used Itcho's designs and themes.

 

The kozuka is signed Getsuō (月翁) with Kao. The kao appears to be that of Kono Haruaki 河野春明, Haynes H 00759.0.

Getsuō was a gō used by Haruaki who used a multitude of art names, Haynes lists 18+ names.

In the Kinkō Meikan, pages 357 to 360, there are examples of Haruaki's mei and Kao (mostly as Shunmei Hogen).

Alas there are no examples of this particular gō name.

 

Kono Haruaki was, and probably still is, faked extensively. Many of the pieces in the West are known to be gimei.

He is best known as Shunmei Hogen (Shummei Hogen) and in many references that is how he is indexed.

Interestingly, there is a kozuka, very similar in theme to this, in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

Their piece is signed Shunmei Hogen and they acknowledge it as a forgery.

 

It was very difficult to photograph this piece, hence the panorama of three images. Under direct sunlight, when tilted, the ground "shimmers" between dark brown and brownish-blue.

 

This kozuka has not been to submitted to Shinsa.

 

I have searched high and low for a comparison mei but have drawn a complete blank.

Does anybody have an example of this particular gō?

 

All opinions, comments, thoughts, are welcome.

[Curran]

Dear Steve,

 

I am afraid I cannot add to your excellent write-up. I enjoyed reading it and it contained about everything I know about Hogen.

The prints illustrating the theme were perfect.

 

I have seen a few pieces with his signature and never felt 100% confident on the signatures, leaving me to wonder how much variation his signature involved over his lifetime, or if they were all gimei.

 

I hope someone else can comment on your kozuka.

[Brian]

Not experienced enough to comment on shoshin or not, but I can tell you that I think it is lovely indeed, and exactly my taste too. Had I seen it, I would have been sorely tempted to purchase it. To my humble eyes, the katakiribori carving looks very well done, and fluid/confident. I am not quite sure if it is masterpiece work..but I think it is a very nice piece and I would be proud if I was the owner.

 

Brian

[SSt]

Sorry about the late response, been having PC problems.

Now resolved, says he fingers crossed!

 

Appreciate the thoughts and comments.

I was fortunate to be able to find examples of Itcho's work, to illustrate the theme that this artist was drawing from.

Time and patience will hopefully find a comparative mei.

So Shinsa would seem to be my next stop.

 

Thanks to all.

[Ford Hallam]

Steve,

 

for what it's worth...and far be it for me to tell you what to collect , you said at the out set that you bought the piece because it appealed to you. No-one can argue with that...however you are now trying to establish whether or not the mei might be genuine, so this raises a different set of considerations. The first being whether the artistry is of the standard one would expect of a really big name artist.

 

While I will concede that it's a fairly pleasant kozuka I wouldn't personally regard this work as anything more than good. The katakiri is actually, in my view, not particularly expressive nor elegant in itself. The appeal of the design rests mainly with the actual subject matter depicted. This is absolutely not enough in terms of the standards expected by Japanese connoisseurs. Every aspect of the work must be redolent of the masters touch.

 

As a very minor example, no serious artist in this tradition would have rendered the paint brush as in this piece. It has simply been engraved over the silver inlay leaving a silver tip to the brush....it ought to be shakudo and thus black. It's a relatively insignificant aspect....or so we might think. Not so to those for whom these creations were considered high art.

 

Anyway, that's just my view and as it was offered for free please feel free to discard it if you're so inclined.

 

regards,

 

Ford

[Soshin]

As I don't have any additional information to offer in terms of if the mei is real I will refrain from commenting on that issue. The katakiri-bori style and the subject reflected on the kozuka is wonderful and thank you for taking the time to post a write up about your kozuka and the screen pictured. I recently purchased a kinko tanto tsuba that uses this same katakiri-bori style. I really enjoy and find the detail of designs using this technique quite impressive.

 

 

 

Yours truly,

Soshin (David S.)