JAPANESE AND KOREAN ART 23 march 2022

(box lid)
748
748
SAKO RYUHEI (B. 1976)
Tea Caddy 04
Reiwa era (2019-current), 2021
A mokumegane (forged and marbleized) and hammered natsume (tea
caddy), made from silver, copper, shakudo (copper-gold alloy), shibuichi
(copper-silver alloy), and kuromido (alloy-copper, arsenic), signed Ryu and
dated 2021 on bottom
With lid and wood tomobako storage box
3 1/8 x 3in (8 x 7.7cm)
$3,000 - 5,000
Like Tamagawa Norio (lot 755), Sako Ryuhei is a master of the
mokumegane technique, in which different colored metal and alloy
sheets are bonded and layered at high temperatures, then cut, drilled,
hammered, and reworked to create a woodgrain pattern. At 46 the
youngest of the ten master metalworkers featured in this section of
today’s sale, Sako had his first exhibition outside Japan in 2013.
749
UOZUMI IRAKU III (B. 1937; LIVING NATIONAL TREASURE,
2002)
Flower Vase
Heisei era (1989-2019), 2019
A vase cast from sahari (copper-tin alloy) using the lost-wax method, in
momozoko form with a splayed lower section and a raised band around
the neck
With wood tomobako storage box and tomogire wrapping cloth
9 1/2 x 2 1/4in diameter (24 x 6cm)
$3,000 - 4,000
Uozumi Iraku is famous for casting gongs, a process that can only be
carried out in spring and summer when conditions of humidity and
temperature are ideal for producing metal with the ideal sonority; during
the remaining seasons of the year he casts utensils like this for chanoyu
(the “tea ceremony”), bringing a contemporary touch to vessels
produced using techniques inherited from his grandfather, Uozumi Iraku
I.
749
(box lid)
124 | BONHAMS