Antique Japanese Buddhist Diamond Realm Mandala thangka painting (Kongokai Mandara). In Vajrayana Buddhism, the Diamond Realm (vajradhatu kongokai) is a metaphysical space inhabited by the Five Wisdom Buddhas. The Diamond Realm Mandala is based on an esoteric Buddhist sutra called Vajrasekhara Sutra. Shuji Mandala of the Two Worlds, Vajradhatu Mandala does not directly express the forms of the buddhas but expresses them in Sanskrit character (Siddham) called Shuji seed letter...

Kawase Hasui
Snow at Arakawa River
Date: 1930s.
Size: Approximately 5.75 x 3.75 inches.
Publisher: Watanabe Shozaburo.
"Made in Japan" stamped on verso.
Reference: Hotei: Hp-39.
Medium: Japanese woodblock print.
Condition: Excellent.

Hard to find nowadays: slightly distorted shoe shaped (kutsugata) tea bowl from the early Edo Period with a rounded brim, made of little iron bearing, coarse, unrefined Mino clay. The expertly thrown body was trimmed with a potter's knife in its lower part around the foot ring.

The whole body was decorated with wide white parallel lines in a white engobe over which a thin line in iron oxide was drawn, over which finally transparent ash glaze was applied - really stunning...

Antique Japanese pair of bronze vases in the form of woven baskets entwined with lotus blossoms and leaves. Each vase is decorated with a lifelike cicada and one of the vases has a crab.

Meiji Period (1868-1912)

Dimensions: 8" high x 5 1/2" wide (each vase)

Small antique Japanese lacquer zushi (personal shrine) with tiny carved wooden bodhisattva inside. The standing figure inside is painted black and gold. The exterior of the zushi is lacquered black and the inside is painted a deep green with delicate gold details. Tiny copper hardware.

Dimensions: 4" high x 3 1/2" wide (opened)

A Hirado ware porcelain figure of a kirin (in Chinese, qilin). The mythical creature is part lion with the body of a dragon and the hooves of a deer. It represents good fortune, protection, prosperity, longevity and fertility. The recumbent kirin figure is executed with masterful attention to detail and form.

Meiji Period (1868 - 1912)

Dimensions: 5 1/2" x 1 3/4" x 3 1/2"

Cyrus leRoy Baldridge (1889-1977)
Peking, 1925
Edition: 81/200
Publisher: Watanabe Shozaburo.
Size: Oban. Approximately 15.25 x 10.5 inches.
Signed in pencil: "Cyrus Baldridge".
Medium: Japanese woodblock print.
Condition: Margin has matte line, pinhole, and tape at corner. Image has a few faint spots.

This is a Jinbaori (sleeveless campaign jacket worn over armor) made with kuzu cloth used by the precious natural cloth of the Edo period, the top of the samurai. The family crest is hidari - hitotsu - myoga no marumon. It is an item of the original Edo period. There are thin dirt and slight damage. I think that the weft is kuzu cloth and the warp is hemp or Kuzuu. Because it was used in the Edo period, it seems that silver foil was applied on the Japanese paper around the sleeve, but...

Antique Japanese single section mizuya (kichten chest). Made of hinoki (Japanese cypress) wood with dark keyaki (elm) wood burl panels. The left side of the tansu has a compartment opened by sliding doors with vertical slats. The right portion of the chest has a smaller compartment opened by sliders with decorative cut outs and wire mesh...

An original 18th century Japanese Namban armor with momonari type kabuto. The wisteria meadate and other occurrences of variations of the Fuji mon belongs to the Fujiwara Clans. The meadate matches that of the family crest seen on the armor. The black lacquered dou is textured with crushed oyster shell in fine detail. The armor is presented with the original hitsu (armor box) with gold beautiful gold calligraphy on the sides...

A small, attractive incense table on four legs in classical style with openwork in red Negoro-lacquer with the typical ‘rubbed’ surface to reveal the layer of black lacquer underneath. Japan, late Meiji, c. 1900. H 13.5 cm, W 20 cm, L 26 cm. Condition: Generally good (minor wear and a few, small cracks).

A dish of moulded octagonal form with vertical raised edges decorated with a Peony leaf scrolling arabesque ground inset with shaped reserves containing auspicious Dragons and Chinese lions. The rim decorated with a stylised wave border with alternating pairs of claw waves and, gobenka, five petal flowers placed in the corners both to the interior and the exterior of the rim...

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)...

A shell shaped swirling form by young female artist Takatsu Mio enclosed in the original signed wooden box. It is 6-1/2 inches (16.5cm)wide, roughly 7 inches (18cm) tall and in excellent condition.
Takatsu Mio (b. 1976) was raised in Gifu prefecture among the scattered kilns of Mino. She graduated the Osaka University of Arts Sculpture Department in 1999, moving on to advanced studies which she completed in 2001. Her first exhibited works were in 1999, and then again in Tokyo in 2001...

A beautiful Nashiji (sprinkled gold flakes) ground lacquer Natsume, Tea caddy. It has an elaborate cartouche on the lid in gold makie, gold and silver on a chocolate lacquer background depicting a stylised landscape (mountain, hermitage river and boat). 3 cartouche on the sides in lozenge form in heavy, raised lacquer; one with fishing hut among reeds and half moon; one with fish nets and seagulls and the last with seabirds on raised waves...

Antique Japanese kura tansu (warehouse storage chest). Made of keyaki (elm) wood with iron hardware. The top portion has a large compartment covered by sliding panels with vertical slats. The bottom portion has another compartment covered by sliding panels with horizontal and vertical slats. Heavy wooden braces for strength on sides and back of chest.

Late Edo Period (1644 - 1868)

Dimensions: 35 1/2" high x 35 3/4" wide x 19 3/4"deep.

A rare antique Japanese kuruma tansu (wheeled chest) originally used for storage. Made out of keyaki (elm) wood with hand forged iron hardware in very good original condition. Large sliding panels open to reveal an open shelf on the right side with a hidden storage area under the shelf. The left hand side has an open shelf with 4 drawers tucked underneath. Symmetrical uniform wooden horizontal bracing on the sides and back of tansu. Gorgeous original finish and patina...

Kasamatsu Shiro (1898-1991)
Misty Evening at Shinobazu Pond
Date: 1932.
Size: Oban. Approximately 15.5 x 10.25 inches.
Publisher: Watanabe Shozaburo.
First edition. Watanabe sausage seal (in use 1929-42).
Shiro seal lower left.
Medium: Japanese woodblock print.
Condition: Faint matte line near image edge. Pinhole at margin edge. Light toning and fading.