Seal of Kano Motonobu 狩野元信 (1477-1559) Snow Landscape
Muromachi Period (1333-1573), early/mid-16th centuryKakejiku (hanging scroll), ink on paper in silk mounts, depicting mountains, trees, and a waterfall in winter, a figure with an umbrella advancing up a path at lower left; ivory jiku (roller ends)Red pot seal at lower left Motonobu 元信 Overall: 141cm x 63.7cm (55?in x 25 1/8in); Image: 42.7cm x 40.5cm (16?in x 16in) (11).
注脚
ProvenanceAshikaga Family, by reputeMatsudaira Family of Iwami Province, by reputeIrie Sekitei 入江石亭 (1766-1839), collector and connoisseurMr Miura, 1811 (see below)Kawasaki Shōzō 川崎 正蔵 (1837-1912), founder of the Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation; formerly housed in the Kawasaki Museum in KobePublishedKawasaki Yoshitarō 川崎芳太郎 ed., Chōshunkaku kanshō dainishū 長春閣鑒賞 第二集 (An Appreciation of the Chōshunkaku Collection, Volume Two), Tokyo, Kokkasha 國華社, 1914, plate 34Sakaguchi Satoru 阪口覺 ed., Chōshunkaku zōhin tenkan zuroku 長春閣蔵品展觀圖録 (Catalogue of an Exhibition of the Chōshunkaku Collection), Kōbe Kawasaki danshaku-ke zōhin nyūsatsu mokuroku 神戸川崎男爵家蔵品入札目録 (Auction Catalogue of Works from the Kawasaki Family Collection, Kobe), sale catalogue (12 March 1936), Osaka, Chōshunkaku Zōhin Zuroku Kankōkai 長春閣蔵品圖録刊行會, 1936 (reprinted 1938), no. 69Inner wood tomobako storage box inscribed outside Kohōgen ga yuki sansui Yōboku shōsho tsuki 古法眼畫雪山水 養朴證書附 (Snow landscape by Kohōgen with certificate by Yōboku), inscribed inside Irie Sekitei shinkan 入江石亭審完 (Examined by Irie Sekitei) with two seals; outer lacquered-wood tomobako storage box with metal fittings, inscribed outside in red lacquer Kohōgen yuki sansui古法眼雪山水 (Snow landscape by Kohōgen), paper seal inside Chōshunkaku zō 長春閣蔵 (Chōshunkaku Collection), the outside with paper labelsFour certificates: one signed Kano Yōboku 狩野養朴 (Kano Tsunenobu, 1636-1713) dated the 7th day of the 12th month of the Ox year (likely 1661, 1673, 1685, 1697, or 1709); another including the name Josen 如川 (probably the painter Kano Josen Chikanobu, 1660-1728); another with a Meiji-era (1868-1912) date, signed Wada Moriari 和田守有, and stating that the painting was in the collection of the Ashikaga family of shoguns and later owned by Lord Matsudaira of the Hamada Domain in Iwami Province; another repeating information from Chōshunkaku kanshō 長春閣鑒賞 (see above) including the claim that the painting was formerly in the Higashiyama Palace of the Ashikaga shogunsFour receipts: one for 150 ryō signed by Irie 入江 (Sekitei) and addressed to a Mr Miura 三浦, dated Bunka 2 (1805); another signed by Irie 入江 (Sekitei) and addressed to a Mr Miura 三浦, dated to the 11th month of the Sheep year (1811); another a receipt for 100 ryō dated Bunka 8 (1811); another signed Hokkyō Yōzan 法橋養山 and dated the 19th day of the 4th monthLike his father Kano Masanobu (see preceding lot), Kano Masanobu served the Ashikaga shoguns and is perhaps best known for the many works that he painted for the Reiun'in monastery in Kyoto, executed in a number of different Chinese styles including the sharp, angular monochrome angular manner of Xia Gui (1195-1224) which is also emulated in the present lot. The red pot seal seen here is recorded in Honchō gain (Painter's Seals of the Realm), a woodblock-printed compilation published in 1693. The relevant image is accessible at http://lab.inf.shizuoka.ac.jp/takamatsu/honchogain-20.htm (folio 20, left-hand page, upper left).As observed in the footnote to the preceding lot, early Kano paintings were frequently authenticated by later members of the academy. This painting appears to have received such an authentication at least once around 1700. It was subsequently published in a sumptuous six-volume set documenting the collection of Kawasaki Shōzō, founding father of the Kawasaki industrial empire, and sold at an auction of the family collection in 1936.Please note that the jiku (roller ends) are made of ivory, the import of which is banned in the USA and China; additionally, from 1 January 2021 this lot will require a CITES permit for export to all other destinations outside of the UK. Should you wish, the Japanese Department can arrange for the jiku to be professionally removed at an additional cost.