243 - AN IMPORTANT AND HISTORIC TWO-PANEL ‘MOGAMI SCREEN’ BYOBU DEPICTING THE SUMMER SIEGE AND FALL OF OSAKA CASTLE

AN IMPORTANT AND HISTORIC TWO-PANEL ‘MOGAMI SCREEN’ BYOBU DEPICTING THE SUMMER SIEGE AND FALL OF OSAKA CASTLE Japan, late 18th to early 19th century, Edo period (1615-1868) Ink, watercolors, gouache, and gold paint on paper. Mounted within silk brocade borders on two wood panels with metal fittings. Finely painted with the final fighting of the Summer Siege of Osaka in 1615, the densely populated composition unfolding before the walls of Osaka Castle. Mounted samurai and foot soldiers clash with swords, spears, and matchlock firearms beneath a forest of banners and heraldic standards, while cavalry press through the melee and fugitives stream away from the fighting. Particular attention is given to the differing ranks and circumstances of the combatants, from lower-ranking samurai charging into battle almost naked and without armor to elaborately equipped mounted retainers advancing through the confusion. The brutality of the conflict is rendered with extraordinary immediacy. Warriors return carrying severed enemy heads as proof of valor, others administer final rites to mortally wounded comrades, while bloodied bodies and decapitated corpses lie scattered across the battlefield. At the margins of the fighting, women tend to wounded soldiers returning from combat. Broad clouds of gold divide the various episodes, creating a striking contrast between the sumptuous decorative surface and the uncompromising violence of the subject. While many surviving copies of the celebrated Mogami composition are comparatively summary in execution, the present screen is distinguished by its meticulous brushwork, rich coloring, and remarkable wealth of narrative detail. Inscriptions: To the reverse, a paper label inscribed 最上屛風の由来。元和元年五月　徳川家康自ら大阪に出陣の折　江戸城留守主将と命ぜられし最上家親に　凱旋と祝したる際の　引出物として　画家に命じ戦争の有様と　大阪城落城の凄惨なる状態を　活写せしめ下をれし　貴重なる屛風であったが　最上家改易のとき法幢寺(光禅寺)に寄進し世に最上屛風と称して　有名なりしも　山形大火の時　行方不明なれり後　数片に分割され　諸方に分蔵されている　現に此の一片は　日本風俗大成（豊臣編）に写真掲載されている貴重なるものである。「日本風俗大成」（豊臣編）「最上屛風」とあり。 [Origin of the Mogami Screen. In the fifth month of Genna 1 (1615), when Tokugawa Ieyasu personally set out for Osaka, Mogami Iechika (1582-1617) was appointed commander of Edo Castle during his absence. To commemorate Ieyasu’s triumphant return, a painter was commissioned to record vividly the events of the war and the horrific scenes surrounding the fall of Osaka Castle, and the resulting screen was presented to Mogami Iechika as a commemorative gift. When the Mogami family was dispossessed of its domain, the screen was donated to Hodoji Temple (Kozenji Temple) and became celebrated as the ‘Mogami Screen.’ It became unaccounted for at the time of the Great Fire of Yamagata and was later divided into several sections, which came to be preserved separately in different locations. This particular section is especially valuable, since it was photographically reproduced in Nihon Fuzokuga Taisei, in the volume devoted to the Toyotomi period, under the title ‘Mogami Screen.’] SIZE 103.5 x 194 cm Condition: Very good condition with expected wear, light soiling, minor staining, and scattered flaking to the pigments. Evidence of old worm activity, since stabilized and repaired. The reverse with traces of wear and use, and the label with age-related browning. The exceptional importance of the present screen lies in the rare convergence of historical significance, pictorial quality, and survival. With the original Mogami Screen destroyed in 1894 and the surviving copies generally far more summary in execution, few extant versions preserve this celebrated composition with comparable refinement, detail, and immediacy. The present work therefore assumes exceptional importance as a surviving visual record of the lost archetype itself. At the same time, it documents one of the defining events in Japanese history - the Summer Siege and fall of Osaka Castle in 1615, which brought the Toyotomi house to an end and secured Tokugawa supremacy - with a gruesome realism rarely encountered in Japanese battle painting. Severed heads, dying and mutilated soldiers, the wounded, and civilians caught in the aftermath transform the scene from a conventional celebration of martial valor into an extraordinary historical document. In the absence of the lost original, the present screen stands as one of the most compelling surviving records of both its composition and the brutal reality of the event it commemorates. Due to length restriction on Drouot this entry is shortene