Yamakawa Takatsugu II 二代山川孝次
Pair of Mountain-Shaped Folding-Screen Holders, early 20th century
Size 2 1/4 x 5 1/4 x 2 1/4 in. (5.3 x 13.5 x 5.3 cm)
T-3648
Cast, chiseled, and patinated iron with silver inlay 2 x 5 1/4 x 2 inches (5.3 x 13.5 x 5.3 cm) Fitted wooden tomobako storage box, the sliding lid inscribed...
Cast, chiseled, and patinated iron with silver inlay
2 x 5 1/4 x 2 inches (5.3 x 13.5 x 5.3 cm)
Fitted wooden tomobako storage box, the sliding lid inscribed outside Enzan byōbu-osae遠山屏風押 (Mountain-shaped folding-screen holders) and signed Yamakawa Takatsugu tsukuru 山川孝次造 (Made by Yamakawa Takatsugu) with seal Takatsugu 孝次; paper label inscribed Byōbu-hasami Yamakawa Takatsugu saku 屏風はさみ 山川孝次作 (Folding-screen holders made by Yamakawa Takatsugu)
Usually made from ceramic or metal, as here, byōbu-osae or byōbu-hasami are used to stabilize the outer panels of a folding screen when it is opened up for display. Here the metal artist has ingeniously modeled the two holders so that they each resemble a mountain rendered in the semi-abstract Rinpa style, embellished with horizontal lines of silver mist. The rounded profile of the mountains recalls the revived version of Rinpa pioneered by Kamisaka Sekka (1866–1942), suggesting a probable early twentieth-century date.
During the Edo period (1868–1912), the city of Kanazawa in Kaga Province (present-day Ishikawa Prefecture) became a major artistic center thanks to the patronage of the Maeda samurai clan, the wealthiest in all Japan apart from the ruling Tokugawa dynasty. Along with lacquerers and textile-dyers, metalworkers flocked to Kanazawa where they developed a distinctive style of metal inlay in iron, mostly used at first on abumi (horse-stirrups) but later extended to other artifacts. Yamakawa Takatsugu, whose father of the same name (1828–1882) worked as a silversmith in the direct service of the Maeda, appears to have lived all his life in Kanazawa. He had a successor who died in 1938 and the family business is still carried on by his descendents. See Wakayama Hōmatsu 若山泡沫, Kinkō jiten 金工事典 (A Dictionary of Metalworkers), Tokyo, Yūzankaku, 1972, p. 223 and http://www.nikkiso.co.jp/company/activity/culture.html.
2 x 5 1/4 x 2 inches (5.3 x 13.5 x 5.3 cm)
Fitted wooden tomobako storage box, the sliding lid inscribed outside Enzan byōbu-osae遠山屏風押 (Mountain-shaped folding-screen holders) and signed Yamakawa Takatsugu tsukuru 山川孝次造 (Made by Yamakawa Takatsugu) with seal Takatsugu 孝次; paper label inscribed Byōbu-hasami Yamakawa Takatsugu saku 屏風はさみ 山川孝次作 (Folding-screen holders made by Yamakawa Takatsugu)
Usually made from ceramic or metal, as here, byōbu-osae or byōbu-hasami are used to stabilize the outer panels of a folding screen when it is opened up for display. Here the metal artist has ingeniously modeled the two holders so that they each resemble a mountain rendered in the semi-abstract Rinpa style, embellished with horizontal lines of silver mist. The rounded profile of the mountains recalls the revived version of Rinpa pioneered by Kamisaka Sekka (1866–1942), suggesting a probable early twentieth-century date.
During the Edo period (1868–1912), the city of Kanazawa in Kaga Province (present-day Ishikawa Prefecture) became a major artistic center thanks to the patronage of the Maeda samurai clan, the wealthiest in all Japan apart from the ruling Tokugawa dynasty. Along with lacquerers and textile-dyers, metalworkers flocked to Kanazawa where they developed a distinctive style of metal inlay in iron, mostly used at first on abumi (horse-stirrups) but later extended to other artifacts. Yamakawa Takatsugu, whose father of the same name (1828–1882) worked as a silversmith in the direct service of the Maeda, appears to have lived all his life in Kanazawa. He had a successor who died in 1938 and the family business is still carried on by his descendents. See Wakayama Hōmatsu 若山泡沫, Kinkō jiten 金工事典 (A Dictionary of Metalworkers), Tokyo, Yūzankaku, 1972, p. 223 and http://www.nikkiso.co.jp/company/activity/culture.html.