241 - A FINE TWO-PANEL ‘EGRETS IN A MARSH’ BYOBU (FOLDING SCREEN)

A FINE TWO-PANEL ‘EGRETS IN A MARSH’ BYOBU (FOLDING SCREEN) Japan, 18th century, Edo period (1615-1868) Ink, colors, and gold leaf on paper. Mounted within silk-brocade borders on two black-lacquered wood panels with metal fittings. Finely painted with an anchored boat partly concealed among sweeping reeds at the left, a large coil of rope resting across the vessel, while three white egrets wade through the shallow water, one beside the boat and two advancing across the open expanse to the right. The reeds and marsh grasses are rendered in fluid ink strokes against a softly modulated ground, enlivened by scattered passages of shimmering gold leaf suggesting drifting mist and reflected light. The dense, dark mass of the boat and vegetation is finely balanced by the delicate white birds and broad open water, creating a strikingly asymmetrical and atmospheric composition. SIZE 168.5 x 185.4 cm Provenance: With Ariane Dandois, Paris, France. The collection of Sydell Miller (1937-2024), Palm Beach, Florida, acquired from the above. Christie’s New York, La Rêverie: The Collection of Sydell Miller, 10 June 2021, lot 103. A private collection, Monaco, acquired from the above. Ariane Dandois was a prominent Parisian antiquaire and art dealer who opened her first gallery on the Left Bank in the early 1970s, initially specializing in Asian art and antiquities. She later established herself at Place Beauvau, where her celebrated gallery became known for an eclectic inventory ranging from Asian works of art to important European furniture and decorative arts. Sydell Miller (1937-2024) was an American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and noted art collector. Together with her husband Arnold Miller, she co-founded Matrix Essentials in 1980 and later served as its CEO and president. Following her career in the beauty industry, Miller devoted considerable attention to philanthropy and collecting, assembling an important and highly eclectic collection of fine and decorative arts. Condition: Good condition with wear consistent with age. Scattered stains, creases, rubbing, and light scratches. Small losses and flaking to the paper, pigments, and gold leaf. Further wear and minor losses along the panel joints. The composition belongs to the broad tradition of Japanese kacho-ga, in which birds and plants are employed to explore rhythm, season, and atmosphere. The present screen is distinguished by the unusual prominence of the anchored boat, whose large, cropped form and heavy coil of rope create a dense visual mass at the left. Rendered largely in broad ink washes, the boat and surrounding reeds are counterbalanced by the three egrets picked out in luminous white against the expansive water. Irregular passages of gold leaf dissolve the surrounding space into mist and reflected light, heightening the contrast between the weight of the vessel and the delicate movement of the birds. Museum comparison: Compare a closely related pair of two-panel screens, Egrets with Willows, by Kano Sokuyo (active 1716-1736), dated 1716-1736, 172.7 x 176.2 cm, in the Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, object nos. 1966.27.4-5. The screens similarly juxtapose white egrets with sweeping waterside vegetation across a restrained, atmospheric composition. The work is currently identified by the Philbrook as Egrets with Willows, 1716-36.