Golden eyes gaze at the full moon rising over dried autumn grass and wilted flowers on this fine scroll signed Shuso (Hotta Shuso). Pigment and light color on silk in a patterned silk mounting with bone rollers. The scroll measures 19 x 78 inches (47.5 x 192.5 cm) and is in overall fine condition.
Hotta Shuso (1894-1954) was born in Nagano prefecture and studied under Ikegami Shuho, settling in Tokyo. One of his best students, Shuso later became leader of Shuho's Denshindo atelier...

A massive celebratory image of Tai (sea bream) by important 20th century artist Imai Keiju in superb mounting enclosed in a wooden box signed Gorei. These fish have attitude! Sea Bream are an auspicious image in Japan due to their name (Tai) which is a homonym with medetai (celebration). The pigment on silk image is framed in patterned brocades and features bone rollers. The scroll is 51-1/2 x 78 inches (130 x 199 cm)...

Green or Blue, which will win this contest? Two shishi lions vie for our attention on this absolutely fabulous pair of 19th century screens. The images are performed with pigment on applied silver, not an easy medium from the start. One creature pounces, mouth open, teeth barred while the other crouches, mouth shut, ready to leap. Peony, a flower typically associated with the creatures, grows about them. Each screen is 68 x 137 inches (173 x 348 cm)...

Two panel Japanese folding screen with image of two deers set on a grassy meadow-like surrounding with a waxing gibbous moon set on the left panel screen. The simple watercolor appearance, minimalist lines, and motif like appearance of the images are the signature elements seen in most Rinpa School. Age: Edo Period (18th-19th century). Size: Height: 67.5" Width: 68"

The painting depicted court musicians playing divine music called Bugaku. Bugaku is a Japanese court music accompanied by dancing. Here one of the players plays shen (a bamboo instrument first produced in China in 7th century) and the other one sounds a massive drum with mitsudomoe crest (three comma-shaped figures in a circle). Bugaku carries a ritualistic implication and is usually played at the start before dance performance begins. Bugaku purifies the stage. Painted with ink and pigments...

Children gathering Sansai mountain vegetables, a stunning Taisho period silk painting by Nishikubo Kunko. Three young girls wear indigo dyed country kimono, their forearms and shins protected from the grass and brush and heads covered in white scarves, straw sandals on their feet. They carry voluminous bamboo baskets as they move along the reed covered water’s edge, perhaps in search of fuki (Butterbur). The scene is performed with heavy pigment on silk, in completely original condition...

A Momoyama-early Edo period gold screen depicting a happy god of fortune drinking while being pulled by deer in his elaborate wagon through a rocky landscape. The paper is wrinkled and creased with age, and the color worn, exuding a great sense of antiquity. The bold patterns and rich texture of the Edo period brocade border amplifies that feeling. The screen is 22-1/2 x 56 inches (57 x 142 cm) and has a shaped lacquered wood frame retaining antique paper backing with some repairs.

Cranes flock to the shore, greeted by their compatriots grazing among dry winter grasses on the wave lapped beach of this anonymous pair of Mid Edo period six panel screens. Performed with Ink and pigment on paper with scattered gold flake in a blue silk border with kuwa (mulberry) wood frame and sturdy blue cloth backing. Fully remounted, each screen is 65 x 142 inches (165 x 361 cm). A quintessential Kano style Edo period scene.

A female dancer dressed in massive and splendid Noh attire. The painting is attributed to Iwasa Matabei (1578–1650), a renowned Japanese painter who is often considered originating ukiyo-e genre painting...

A male dancer dressed in massive and splendid Noh attire. The painting is attributed to Iwasa Matabei (1578–1650), a renowned Japanese painter who is often considered originating ukiyo-e genre painting...

A samurai and his retainer helping his load to dress in armor. Painted with ink and pigments on silk. During Warring States period (sengoku period), samurai had a specialist retainer who can put armors on them before going to a war. The specialist stylists were familiar with armor and well aware of the order of dressing up so that samurai did not waste their time to join the war. Signed Hogan Eishin and sealed...

The painting depicted a samurai met an old man at night. In Japan there are many legendary tales of ogre extermination where samurai fights with ogre to protect people and their town. Some folklore says that the ogre turns into human and attacks people go around. Here, the samurai was prepared for the fight by the torii, which is a traditional Japanese gate commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the profane to the sacred...

Unique Zen ink wash painting depicts scroll and bamboo broom representing Kanzan and Jittoku. Kanzan and Jittoku were Zen eccentric monks thought to have lived at a monastery on Mt...

Antique Japanese beautiful pair of Kacho (bird and flower) 6-panel screen paintings, painted with scenes of pairs of different birds by a stream; depicted are herons, pheasants, mandarin ducks, and others; growing near river are cherry trees, peonies and pines; painted in mineral colors and gofun on paper with gold leaf mist, early 19th century (Edo Period)

Provenance: from the collection of the Honolulu Museum of Art.

Early 19th Century

Size: Each...

Jurojin getting an earful; a humorous image by Suzuki Shonen showing the elderly god having his ear cleaned by his companion, the long lived crane. It comes enclosed in a double wooden box annotated by Konishi Fukunen (1887-1959) and bears a label from the Daimaru Department Store. Fukunen was one of Shonens most famous pupils. The ink and light color on paper image is bordered in a superb brocade mounting with solid ivory rollers. It measures 64 x 149 cm (25 x 59 inches) and is in fine cond...

A large silk painting of a scene from the history of Japan by Kai Seihyo (1882-1974), one of Japan's noted painters specializing in historical subjects. Kai Seihyo was trained at the Tokyo University of Fine Arts. It was later in Seihyo's life where the artist began producing unique historical subjects and received high acclaim where Seihyo was known for his paintings of samurai and horses. Age: 1948-1960, late Showa Era. Size: Length: 47" Width: 28.5"

A sprawl of chrysanthemum are delicately painted growing beneath the elegant curves of a Kanshi poem on this fine silk scroll by Kamisaka Sekka enclosed in the original signed wooden box. Pigment and ink on silk with silk border and black lacquered rollers. The scroll measures 11-1/2 x 73-1/2 inches (30 x 186 cm) and in fine condition. For more on this artist see the current exhibition at the Clark Center. For a very similar painting see Kindai no Rimpa, Kamizaka Sekka by Yanagihara (1981) p...

Pair of Spectacular Masterpiece Japanese Paintings of an Imperial Couple. 59h x 24w inches, 150 x 61 cm. Signed: Nakayama Sanji. Original frames. Male figure wears robes with the Tokugawa crest. The female wears a gold phoenix crown with a gorgeous royal kimono. This one-of-a-kind pair of portraits was possibly inspired by the American painter, John Singer Sargent (1856–1925), considered the leading portrait painter of his generation. His portraits have a elongated format, similar to this p...