Muto Katei (b. 1910)
Engakuji Temple in Kamakura
Publisher: Watanabe Shozaburo. Bears the Watanabe 6mm seal, indicating an early edition.
Date: 1954
Size: Oban: Approximately 15.5 x 10.5 inches.
Condition: Pristine. Never displayed. Removed from original folder for archival storage.
Muto Katei studied printmaking under Kawase Hasui.
The unusual color palette works beautifully in this image.

A katchushi (or armorer's) tsuba, probably Myochin, with pierced decoration of ship's rudders (the significance being a comparison of rudders steering a ship to values guiding a Samurai's life choices.) The strong, homogenous, dense iron plate with only light tekkotsu and smooth to the touch. Dark patina. Momoyama to early Edo. Good condition: Lamination folds with openings evident on the surface of one side. Ex Skip Holbrook collection. 3 3/32" x 3 1/16" x 1/8" (7.8 cm x 7.7 cm x .32 cm)

A bowl or cup of unusual Klapmuts form with an angled everted rim decorated in under-glaze blue with Auntumn grasses, akikusa. Shards of identical cups have been excavated from the Okawachi kiln site and dated to the late Edo period and the first half of the Nineteenth century. The bowl measures 9.8cm in diameter and stands 6.8cm high and the foot-ring measures 3.4cm in diameter. It is in good condition with no cracks, chips or restoration...

Nabeshima blue and white plate with plum blossoms and cloud pattern in a charming depiction. Shippo design on back with comb line foot. Perfect condition.

2 1/2" H x 8" Diameter
Edo Period, early 1800s

A good Nabeshima dish from the Nabeshima clan’s Okawachi kiln of oval boat shaped form, perhaps inspired by the boat shaped ingots, sychee or yuanbao, and decorated with an auspicious pattern of a pair of Goldfish swimming amongst water weeds. This particular pattern and shape belongs to a group of wares that were approved by the Shogun Ieharu in 1774 and were produced throughout the late Edo period for the consumption of the Shogunate. (See Nabeshima Porcelain for the Shogunate)...

Japanese Nabeshima ware porcelain dish decorated with a bird on a branch looking over a pond of omodaka (water plantian). The dish stands on a high, deeply recessed foot with outer "comb" cobalt blue design around its edges.

Dimensions: 8" diameter

Date: 19th Century

Nabeshima hard porcelain dish. Okawachi kilns. Decoration in underglaze cobalt blue and overglaze enamels. Although the model already exists at the beginning of the 18th century, we do not believe that the dish presented here is authentic. The enamels are perfect, one can distinguish with a magnifying glass discreet wear of use and the enamels show age cracks, but the cobalt blue on the reverse is too pale. It is not a modern copy, as it has been in the Sakura collection for about forty years...

A nagazara of conventional rectangular form with compressed indented corners decorated in underglaze blue with a Chinese style landscape featuring a small viewing pavilion on a bridge. The reverse decorated with a stylised peony and a “classic” comb border to the footring, This dish was produced at the Nabeshima fief’s official kiln at Okawachi in Arita for the Shogun in the late Edo period c.1820-60. The dish measures 20.8cm long and is 11cm wide...

. A Nabeshima style dish hand painted with an underglaze blue “karahana” pattern. The reverse decorated with Shippo-tsunagi, six coins bound with trailing ribbons to the reverse and a comb pattern to the foot. The dish measures 18.5cm in diameter (six suns) and stands 4.5cm high. The foot-rim measures 8.6cm in diameter and is 1.2cm high. The dish is in good condition no cracks, chips or restoration...

Not to save the best for last, but this piece by Nagae Shigekazu is simply breathtaking. The pattern of light and dark squares which drives direct lines across the distended quadrilateral form hails images of the Ichimatsu-moyo pattern at the Katsura Rikyu imperial palace. The lyrical curves of the vessel itself are in sharp contrast to the extreme precision of the patterns, creating a unique dialog between viewer and viewed...

An exquisite white shape by Nagae Shigekazu enclosed in the original signed wooden box dating circa 1996. Inscribed light patterns like waving blades of grass are almost indiscernible on the surface, incredibly detailed and crisp when viewed close-up, a green splash of color like a Christmas ribbon circling the form in both directions. It measures 14 inches (35 cm) tall, 5 inches (13 cm) square at base, mouth 7-1/2 x 2 inches (18.5 x 5 cm), and is in perfect condition...

A striking work covered in granulated geometric patterns by Nagae Shigekazu enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Shikakkei no Katachi (Quadrilateral Form). The form is elastic, warped as if it is stretching after a deep sleep. This contrasts with the concise lines of the decorating pattern, creating an interesting dialog between man’s strive for perfection and order verses the freedom of the natural world. As they say, there are no straight lines in nature...

Nagakura Kenichi's artwork is imbued with a primal energy and balance executed with a keen understanding of composition. Each piece combines classic Japanese bamboo basketry techniques with a contemporary artist's sensibility. He steps outside traditional limitations of form, function and material, challenging our concept of customary bamboo. The transition from container to sculpture is further explored in this piece, with expressive curves and a lack of any definable shape...

NAGAREBUTSU

Meltingly well-weathered Buddhist wood carving statue so-called 'Nagarebutsu' (lit...

This is an excellently hand-carved netsuke depicting a Japanese Legend Hero wrestling, and about to strike a fierce Shishi. He holds a long ribbon tie that loops over the tail of the dog and wraps around his arms ending in a loop at his waist. The man has a determined expression and his fits are clenched. The Shishi has fine detail to its paws ,its fierce face and fluffy tail. Signed Nagasada on the sole of the Hero’s right shoe, a carver who worked in the late 18th / Early 19th century,...

N'aie Pas Peur by Mayumi Oda. N'aie pas peur translates has have not fear, the piece is also known as The Black Madonna. A mother and child stand together under a golden mandorla. The mother is Mary, mother of Jesus, she holds a white lily. This is print 7/50.

A bottle form of rough red clay blasted with a profusion of colors running in rivulets over the heavily tactile surface by Nakagawa Jinenbo enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Chossen Karatsu Tokkuri. It is 5 inches (12 cm) tall and in excellent condition.
Nakagawa Jinenbo (1953-2011) was always fascinated with Karatsu ware, and studied under the great Inoue Toya from the age of 24. Several years later he returned to his hometown to establish a climbing kiln of his own, wh...