PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE CALIFORNIA COLLECTOR645ARTIST UNKNOWN (INEN SEAL)Seasonal FlowersEdo period (1615-1868), late 17th/early 18th centuryA pair of six-panel mid-size screens, painted in ink, colors, and gofun(calcified crushed shell) on paper, the right-hand screen depictingtwo cats and peonies, poppies and a butterfly, irises, lotuses, thistles,and lilies; the left-hand screen depicting two deer, hagi (bush clover),asagao (morning glory), chrysanthemums, and other autumn plants,each bearing the Inen seal associated with followers of TawarayaSotatsu (1570-1643)24 1/2 x 61in (62.2 x 155cm) each$5,000 - 7,00066 | BONHAMS
PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF A BAYAREA ARCHITECT646TOSA SCHOOLScenes from Genji monogatari (The Tale of Genji)Edo period (1615-1868), 17th centuryA six-panel screen painted in ink, colors, gold, and gold leaf on papermounted on a wood lattice and with lacquered wood frames andmetal fittings, depicting five scenes from Genji monogatari (The Tale ofGenji), as described in detail below, with clouds separating the scenes61 1/2 x 140in (156.2 x 355.6cm)$30,000 - 50,000As demonstrated by the panoramic exhibition “The Tale of Genji: AJapanese Classic Illuminated,” held at the Metropolitan Museum ofArt in 2019 and featuring numerous masterpieces of Genji-relatedart, the Tale has occupied a central position in Japanese culture for amillennium, rising to a mid-term peak during the during the sixteenthand seventeenth centuries. The same period witnessed the rise of thefolding screen pair as one of the most important formats for Japanesepainting and their large scale made them especially well-suited forcompositions featuring several episodes from a single Genji chapteror, as in this case, episodes from multiple chapters; for an examplefeaturing every single chapter of the Tale, in the Metropolitan Museumof Art (formerly Burke Collection), see John T. Carpenter and MelissaMcCormick, The Tale of Genji: A Japanese Classic Illuminated,exhibition catalog, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, March5-June 16, 2019, cat. no.59 and Appendix Two.In the current lot, the rightmost panels feature scenes from Chapters20: Asagao above (Genji and Murasaki look out from the veranda ata group of young girls who enthusiastically play around an enormoussnowball in the garden), and 15: Yomogiu below (Genji coming tovisit the Safflower Lady at her dilapidated mansion while his servantKoremitsu clears a path through the overgrown garden); the centralpanels contain Chapters 5: Wakamurasaki above (peeping throughbrushwood fence, Genji catches his first glimpse of Wakamurasaki,aged ten), and 24: Kocho below (people watch little girls dancing,dressed as butterflies, holding cherry blossoms and yellow yamabukiJapanese roses); the leftmost panels are painted with scenes fromChapters 23: Hatsune above (New Year’s Day celebrations at Genji’sRokujo estate) and the continuation from the central panels of Kochobelow (dragon and phoenix boats on a garden pond and morecourtiers watching little girls dancing in butterfly costumes).ProvenanceProperty of a Noted San Francisco Bay Area architect, by descentThis screen is the mate to a six-panel screen sold in our San Franciscorooms, Butterfield and Butterfield, November 2, 1990, lot 2813.FINE JAPANESE AND KOREAN ART | 67