Kawase Hasui
Evening Shower at Imai Bridge, 1932
This is a lifetime edition printed between 1946 and 1957.
Size: Oban. Approximately 15.5 x 10.5 inches.
Publisher: Watanabe Shozaburo. Bears the 6 mm seal.
Medium: Japanese woodblock print.
Condition: Excellent with a couple of scuffs at upper left corner. Uncirculated.
Provenance: The Robert O. Muller estate.

Antique Japanese single section isho tansu (clothing chest), made with Kiri (paulownia) wood front and Sugi (cypress) sides. Copper hardware with lovely original patina on handles, and locks are complimentary to the original warm finish.

Taisho period (1912-1925)

Size: 35.25" L x 15.5" W x 40.5" H

A large primitive robotic form by Morino Taimei in his iconic blue and gold dating from his experimental days in the early 1970 enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Soji Shiho Kabin. It is 12 inches (30 cm) tall, 6 inches (15 cm) square and in excellent condition.
Taimei was born in Kyoto in 1934, and was first accepted into the Nitten National Exhibition at a relatively young age in 1957 (a year before graduating the Kyoto Municipal University of Fine Art!)...

Height: 4.6 cm (1.8 in)
Width: 2.5 cm (1.0 in)
Depth: 2.3 cm (0.9 in)

Fine netsuke of two figures wrestling - one is an Oni; natural material; excellent detail; signed Mitsusada to the foot; good condition

Antique Japanese scroll painting attributed to Kano Seisei (1795-1846). The image is an arrangement of red and white flowers with kiri leaves in its center, hanging from a sudare (bamboo screen) with long tassels. Signed with red chop.

Size: (entire scroll) 8.75" W x 62.5" H (artwork only) 6" W x 39" H

Vintage Japanese hibachi (brazier) made of beautiful Keyaki (elm) wood, with built in stand. The front features three long drawers with incised metal pulls. The interior is copper lined with natural patina.

Showa Period c1980

Dimensions: 33.75" L x 22" D x 19" H

Antique Japanese zenibako, or money box, made of heavy Keyaki (elm) wood. The piece uses a funnel top lid for collecting temple offerings, secured with a very large iron front lock. Original condition. With mortis and tenon joinery.

Meiji Period (1868-1912)

Dimensions: 10.75" W x 17" D x 12.5" H

A pottery box decorated in over-glaze enamels and precious metals by Kato Reikichi enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Sengiri Jikiro.　It is a colorful and playful work a pleasure to look upon. It is 9-1/2 x 5-1/2 x 8 inches (24 x 14 x 20 cm) and is in excellent condition.
Kato Reikichi was born in 1953 the 22nd generation of an unbroken line of potters spanning back to the Keicho era in the Momoyama period...

“I am here” she whispers as the bespectacled gentleman pours the last drops from his bottle and says “I am going home”…a lithograph by Kei Hiraga numbered 50/120 and signed Key Hiraga ’88 with the artist’s seal in red. The paper sheet, matted and framed, measures 50.5 x 42 cm (20 x 16-1/2 inches) and is in excellent condition. This is an superb example of his work, showing both his eros and playful nature in the abstracted figuration for which he is most remembered...

Large and heavily potted porcelain body, decorated in an nice pale cobalt blue in Shunzui style and with medallions showing flying birds and wild gees, birds sitting on branches, sailboats and Fujiyama mountain. Japan, nineteenth century. Diameter: 42 cm. H : 33 cm. Condition: Broken at one area to the rim. This broken area would be absolutely suitable to ennoble the piece with a most beautiful Kintsugi repair ( Gold lacquer repair, please see the images ).

A beautiful example of Oni Shino by world famous Tsukigata Nahiko enclosed in a wooden box signed by his student Ayukai Kogetsu. Wild glazing and a shinshoku fissure filled with glaze on one side define the work, showing reason for this artists great demand. Signed on the base it is 10 inches (25 cm) tall and in excellent condition.
Tsukigata Nahiko (1923-2006) was not only an accomplished ceramic artist, but also a painter, calligrapher, sculptor and musician...

A trumpeting form decorated with bamboo adorned with a single cicada by Matsumoto Sahei (Sabin) enclosed in a wooden box annotated by the current head of the family Matsumoto Sakio. It is 31 cm (12 inches ) tall and in excellent condition.
Matsumoto Sahei (1851－1918)　was born into the family of Matsuya Kikusaburo, a first generation Kutani porcelain artist...

Japanese pair of hardwood pulleys, carved out of Keyaki (elm) wood with hand-forged iron hooks and hardware. Two wooden wheels on the inside are built to support a rope. Each pulley is branded with a signature on both sides.

Meiji Period (1868-1912)

Dimensions: 7" x 14" (each)

Japanese framed print depicting a noh mask of a young woman, in monochrome colors. Artist signature in pencil Kimora Kosuke (b. 1936), 28/66 titled "Noh Mask Black. With an attractive black and silver frame.

Kosuke was born 1936 in Osaka, and graduated from Kyoto City University of Arts in 1956. His works have been featured in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, New York, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, and others...

Japanese porcelain Kutani ware stand or brush rest, in the classic Yoshidaya enamel colors of green, yellow, purple and dark blue. Of a squared form, with hollowed interior and pierced melon shape sides. The top surface is detailed with image of a monk riding a tiger through the bamboo forest, leaping over a river. The sides are detailed with blue and yellow enamel ground with geometric patterns. The piece stands on four short feet.

Dimensions: 2 1/4" x 2 1/4" x 1 1/2" H

Occupation era original Japanese shin hanga woodblock print titled "Kanetsuki Hall Bell Tower, Okayama" by Kawase Hasui (1883-1957) dated in the lower left margin Showa 22 (1947). The artist's black ink signature and red seal are at the lower left corner of the image. The 6mm circular seal of the publisher Watanabe (used 1946-1957) is at the lower right corner. Paper size: 15 1/2" x 10 1/4" (image size: 14 1/4" x just over 9 1/2"). Excellent condition. Never framed...

This piece is described on the box as a Hikidashi Kuro Chawan. In Japanese hikidashi means “a pull-out drawer” and the term first came into use at Mino kilns in the 16th century to describe individual pieces that were pulled out of the wood kiln at the peak of firing to gauge if the batch was ready. The rapid cooling of such pieces often creates dramatic effects, with the most noted being rich varieties of deep black...