252 - FUKUNAGA SEIHAN: A FINE PAIR OF FOUR-PANEL 'RED-CROWNED CRANE AND RISING SUN' BYOBU (FOLDING SCREENS)

FUKUNAGA SEIHAN: A FINE PAIR OF FOUR-PANEL 'RED-CROWNED CRANE AND RISING SUN' BYOBU (FOLDING SCREENS) By Fukunaga Seihan (1883-1961), signed Seihan with seal Fuku Japan, c. 1920, Taisho period (1912-1926) Ink, watercolors, and gouache on silk with gold ground. Each mounted as a four-panel folding screen within a black-lacquered wood frame. Finely painted against luminous gold grounds, one screen depicting a solitary red-crowned crane standing tall in profile, its white plumage boldly contrasted by the black neck, wing, and tail feathers and brilliant red crown, with sparse pale bamboo leaves punctuating the otherwise uninterrupted expanse of gold. The companion screen is dominated by a monumental vermilion rising sun, its circular disk bisected by a broad horizontal veil of mist, with delicate bamboo and grasses emerging from the lower edge. The radical economy of detail, carefully balanced asymmetry, and broad fields of gold lend the pair a strikingly modern and highly graphic quality. Inscriptions: Each screen is signed 晴帆 Seihan and with a red seal 福 Fuku. SIZE 128 x 162 cm (each) Condition: Very good condition with minor wear and well-preserved colors. Scattered small stains and areas of light soiling to the gold ground, minor creasing along the panel joins, and a small area of minute flaking. The crane, bamboo, and rising sun form a concentrated ensemble of auspicious imagery. The red-crowned crane has long been associated in Japan with longevity and good fortune, while bamboo evokes resilience and enduring vitality, and the rising sun renewal and prosperity. Seihan strips these familiar motifs almost entirely of narrative setting, allowing scale, silhouette, and empty space to carry the composition. The slender crane provides a strong vertical counterpoint to the vast gold field, while on the companion screen the enormous vermilion solar disk, interrupted by a horizontal band of mist, approaches pure geometric abstraction. Together, the screens achieve a remarkable balance between naturalism and decorative modernity. Fukunaga Seihan (1883-1961) was a Japanese painter from Yamaguchi Prefecture. In 1908, he accompanied statesman Ito Hirobumi on travels through Korea, Beijing, and Shanghai, and in 1910 continued to Europe, studying art in England before pursuing watercolor and oil painting in Paris. Returning to Japan in 1915, he exhibited at the Bunten and later became particularly noted for large-scale decorative painting. His important architectural commissions included fusuma paintings for Ninnaji Temple, Yasukuni Shrine, Ise Jingu, Kashihara Jingu, and Atsuta Jingu. Auction comparison: Compare a related pair of six-panel screens depicting stylized cranes by Yamamoto Koichi (1868-1912), dated to the Meiji period, 100 x 276 cm each, at Bonhams, Fine Japanese Art, 11 May 2010, London, lot 162 (sold for GBP 43,200 or approx. EUR 80,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing).