Lot description

Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891)

Meiji Period
A shikishi-ban urushi-e, painted in green, red and black lacquer on paper, depicting a flower vase with a trailing branch of boke (chaenomeles japonica, also known as Japanese quince) blossoms set against a plain ground, signed in black lacquer Zeshin with red lacquer signature Koma in seal form. 19.5cm x 17cm (7 5/8in x 6 13/16in).

Footnotes

色紙判漆絵　木瓜に一輪挿図　柴田是真筆　明治時代

Zeshin’s long artistic career is marked by several striking innovations in lacquer technique and compositional layout. These two interests come together in the lacquer paintings, or urushi-e, of his later period. For these he invented a method of mixing colour with a kind of lacquer that would not crack when applied to a flexible surface such as paper or silk. In the painting presented here, the strong dominant shape of the vase and the sharp diagonal formed by the leaves at the top and the single stem of boke across the page is a compositional device mastered by Zeshin.

Quoted from the lot page, © Bonhams. Bonhams, Fine Japanese Art, 2011-11-10, lot 251 ↗

Context 解説

The maker

Shibata Zeshin was born in Edo on 15 March 1807. His father and grandfather were shrine carpenters and wood carvers, and his father had also studied ukiyo-e painting under Katsukawa Shunshō. At eleven Zeshin was apprenticed to the lacquerer Koma Kansai II. He was then sent to study painting with Suzuki Nanrei of the Shijō school, from whom he received the name Zeshin.¹

From our maker page, where each fact is footnoted: Shibata Zeshin 柴田是真.

Technique

The lot description does not name a technique that our Techniques page covers. The house describes the object as lacquer.² See the Techniques page and the Glossary for the terms used in the description.

Where the price sits

At £26,250 (about US$41,884 at the sale-date rate), this lot ranks 85 of the 126 results in our database by US-dollar value, and 6 of 6 in lacquer, where the median is about US$176,202. Among the 6 results for this maker it ranks 6.²

Comparable records

Nearest in price by the same maker, from our database:

• Shibata Zeshin, Small fubako (document box) with an itomari ball and pine needles: £74,400 (≈ US$120,312), Bonhams, 2010-11-09, lot 376.
• Shibata Zeshin, Tonkotsu (tobacco container) with a gardener’s hut and bonsai: £96,000 (≈ US$156,144), Bonhams, 2011-05-12, lot 101.
• Shibata Zeshin, Two-case inrō with Hotei and metalwork tools: £120,000 (≈ US$196,260), Bonhams, 2011-05-10, lot 239.