Lot description

A pair of large ovoid vases with appliqué decoration

Attributed to Makuzu Kozan, Meiji era (1868-1912), late 19th century
Each decorated in enamels and gilt with an almost identical design, the body inset with four sunken oval panels, each applied in high relief with a sparrow in human attire performing a dance, thick branches of yaezakura (multi-petalled cherry blossoms), similarly sculpted and draping across the shoulder and along the bottom, the remainder of the vase painted with sparrows perched or in flight among flowering yamabukiso (Chelidonium japonicum) on a cream ground, the neck with a band of stylised foliage, the foot with a band of repeated shippo-tsunagi (linked-cash) motifs; each vase unsigned. Each vase: 39.5cm (15½in) high. (2).

Footnotes

For similarly conceived vases signed by the artist but of a different subject in the Tanabe Tetsuhito Collection, see NHK Promotions, Miyagawa Kozan botsugo hyakunen (Miyagawa Kozan [100th Anniversary] Retrospective), Tokyo, 2016, pp.106-107, no.54.

Quoted from the lot page, © Bonhams. Bonhams, Fine Japanese Art, 2020-11-05, lot 211 ↗