260 - IWASAKI ERI: THE SCENT OF POPPY SEED INCENSE, "BIND THE HEM OF MY ROBE, TO KEEP IT WITHIN, THE GRIEVING SOUL THAT HAS WANDERED THROUGH THE SKIES"

IWASAKI ERI: THE SCENT OF POPPY SEED INCENSE, "BIND THE HEM OF MY ROBE, TO KEEP IT WITHIN, THE GRIEVING SOUL THAT HAS WANDERED THROUGH THE SKIES" By Iwasaki Eri (b. 1968), signed and sealed by the artist Japan, Kyoto, 2019 Ground mineral pigments (iwa-enogu) and platinum paint on Japanese mulberry paper (washi). Mounted on a wood panel. Finely painted to depict a pale, spectral young woman emerging from darkness, enveloped in sinuous trails of smoke evoking the scent of poppy seeds burned during the goma ritual. Inscriptions: To the right edge sealed 繒 [E]. The reverse signed 岩崎絵里 Iwasaki Eri with seal 繒 [E] and titled 芥子の香。嘆きわび、空に乱る々わが魂を　結びとゞめる　下がりの褄。岩崎絵里。Keshi no kaori (Keshi no ka). Nageki wabi, sora ni midaruru waga tamashii o musubi-todomeru sagari no tsuma [The Scent of Poppy Seed Incense: "Bind the hem of my robe, to keep it within, The grieving soul that has wandered through the skies"]. SIZE 33.5 x 53 cm Condition: Excellent condition. The present lot combines traditional Japanese materials and imagery with a distinctly contemporary sensibility. The use of washi (Japanese mulberry paper) and iwa-enogu (ground mineral pigments) recalls the luminous, mineral-rich surfaces of classical Japanese painting. Subtle red accents around the woman's eyes recall beni, the traditional safflower-derived rouge historically used on the lips, cheeks, and around the eyes, and particularly familiar from the appearance of geisha and maiko. This association remains suggestive rather than definitive, yet it lends an intriguing additional resonance to the painting and its inscription. Particularly evocative is the word tsuma (褄), referring to the lower edge or hem of a kimono. Within Japanese dress culture, the expression tsuma o toru, literally “to take up the hem,” also acquired an association with geisha, from the custom of holding up the left hem of the kimono while walking. In Iwasaki's poetic inscription, however, the trailing hem assumes a more profound symbolic role: it becomes the last physical tether capable of binding a grief-stricken soul that threatens to scatter into the sky, suspending the figure between the corporeal and the immaterial. The sweeping, circular forms surrounding the figure create sinuous rhythms reminiscent of the celebrated octopus imagery of Katsushika Hokusai (fig. 1; see Hokusai, Tako to Ama [Octopus and Shell Diver] in Kinoe no Komatsu [Pining for Love], 1814), while the pale, spectral woman emerging from darkness evokes the haunting female apparitions of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (fig. 2; see Yoshitoshi, Oshu adachigahara hitotsuya no zu [The Lonely House on Adachi Moor], 1885, LACMA M.84.31.138a-b). At the same time, the ethereal figure, whose body appears to dissolve into the surrounding strands, introduces a modern meditation on the instability of identity and the boundary between human and immaterial form, resonating with themes explored in Ghost in the Shell (1995; fig. 3). Eri Iwasaki (b. 1968, Hyogo, Japan) began her study of Nihonga in high school and is a graduate of the Kyoto Saga Junior College of Arts. As a leading figure among contemporary Nihonga artists, Iwasaki’s works have been shown widely, including at SEIZAN Gallery Tokyo, SEIZAN Gallery New York, Mitsukoshi in Tokyo, Sendai, Osaka, Takashimaya Osaka, and KAHO Gallery in Kyoto, among many others. Her work is in the Art Collection of Kyoto Prefecture. Iwasaki lives and works in Kyoto, Japan. Auction comparison: Compare a related larger painting by the same artist, sealed Eri, dated 2022, 90.5 x 116.5 cm, at Christie’s, Japanese and Korean Art, 19 March 2024, lot 129 (sold for USD 32,760 or approx. EUR 30,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing).