67 - A POWERFUL SAISHIKI NETSUKE OF KINKO SENNIN, ATTRIBUTED TO YOSHIMURA SHUZAN, EX-COLLECTION LOUIS GONSE

A POWERFUL SAISHIKI NETSUKE OF KINKO SENNIN, ATTRIBUTED TO YOSHIMURA SHUZAN, EX-COLLECTION LOUIS GONSE Attributed to Yoshimura Shuzan, unsigned Japan, Osaka, 18 th century, Edo period (1615-1868) Published: 1. Gonse, Louis (1883) L’Art japonais, Paris, A. Quantin, vol. II, p. 85. 2. Migeon, Gaston (1905) Chefs-d’Œuvre d’Art Japonais, Paris, no. 878, pl. 85. Boldly carved from hinoki (cypress) wood and painted in gesso with polychrome pigments, portraying Kinko Sennin seated astride a giant carp in a remarkably dynamic, almost vertical composition. The immortal twists his upper body slightly to one side and raises one hand with the index finger extended in an animated gesture, while the other rests beside him. His powerfully modeled face is set with a forceful expression, marked by deeply furrowed brows, narrow eyes, prominent cheekbones, and an open mouth, the features framed by a long, finely incised beard and flowing hair. He wears a loosely draped robe falling in deeply carved, voluminous folds around his body. The massive carp is equally boldly rendered, its broad head with large rounded eyes, pronounced gills, and fleshy closed mouth, the powerful body covered in neatly arranged overlapping scales and terminating in a dramatically curling tail. The broad fins are deeply carved and sensitively modeled, reinforcing the vigorous movement of the composition. Excellent himotoshi through the body of the carp. HEIGHT 8.5 cm Provenance: The private collection of Louis Gonse (1846-1921). Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Collection Louis Gonse (première vente): Œuvres d’art du Japon, 5-10 May 1924, lot 553. The first Gonse sale was devoted to Japanese works of art and was conducted by F. Lair-Dubreuil and Henri Baudoin, with Charles Vignier and André Portier as experts. Louis Gonse (1846-1921) was one of the formative European scholars and collectors of Japanese art and editor-in-chief of the Gazette des Beaux-Arts. His monumental L’Art japonais, published in 1883 in connection with the celebrated retrospective of Japanese art he organized in Paris, played an important role in establishing the serious study of Japanese art in Europe. By 1883 his collection included no fewer than 172 netsuke, and the present carving was among the works he chose to illustrate in L’Art japonais. It remained in his collection until its posthumous sale in 1924. Condition: Excellent condition with minor old wear and expected losses to pigments. Yoshimura Shuzan (d. 1776) was a Kano school painter who received the honorary title hogen and is particularly celebrated for his distinctive saishiki netsuke, generally carved from hinoki wood, covered with gesso, and painted in rich polychrome pigments. His netsuke are characteristically unsigned and often of unusually large size, with strongly sculptural compositions and highly expressive, almost theatrical facial types. The present work closely follows this distinctive vocabulary, particularly in the forceful modeling of Kinko's face, with its deeply furrowed brow, narrowed eyes, broad cheekbones, open mouth, and finely incised flowing beard. These features find remarkably close parallels in figures traditionally attributed to Shuzan, including the Ryujin examples cited below. Museum comparison: Compare a closely related painted wood netsuke of Ryujin, attributed to Yoshimura Shuzan, dated to the 18th century, 9 cm high, in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, accession no. M.91.250.9. Note particularly the strikingly similar treatment of the facial features, with the same broad and powerfully modeled face, deeply furrowed brows, narrow eyes, prominent cheeks, open mouth, and long finely incised beard, as well as the closely related dramatic treatment of the drapery. Auction comparison: Compare a closely related saishiki netsuke of Ryujin, attributed to Yoshimura Shuzan, dated to the 18th century, 10.2 cm high, at Bonhams, Fine Japanese Art, 6 November 2012, London, lot 160 (sold for GBP 9,375 or approx. EUR 16,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing). Again, note the remarkably similar physiognomy, particularly the furrowed brow, narrow eyes, strongly projecting cheeks, open mouth, and long incised beard, as well as the similarly powerful and animated sculptural treatment.