Lot 15. Tomonobu 友信, A Mixed-Metal Model of a Hawk with an En-Suite Lacquer Stand, Meiji era (18

Date Created: 26 August 2019

Author: Tomonobu 友信, Japanese artist

Source: The Internet

Owner: Bonhams

Location: New York

Link to: Website

  • Japan
  • Hawk
  • Sculpture
  • 19th Century
  • Hunting
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Lot 15. Tomonobu 友信, A Mixed-Metal Model of a Hawk with an En-Suite Lacquer Stand, Meiji era (1868–1912), 1898. Height overall 24 1/8 in. (61.2 cm). Height without stand 6 5/8 in. (16.8 cm). Estimate: US$ 100,000 - 125,000 (€ 86,000 - 110,000). Unsold. © Bonhams 2001-2018.

Naturalistically modeled, of silver, shibuichishakudō, and gold, standing on its left leg with its right leg raised, the feathers and other details very finely rendered, the original stand of black lacquer decorated in gold lacquer with a wide variety of mon (crests) of prominent Edo-period families and with similarly decorated shibuichifittings, an opening in the bird's back fitted with a silver liner and with a detachable lid pierced with three openings and signed and dated inside with chiseled characters Tsuchinoe-inu no haru Tomonobu kizamu æˆŠæˆŒä¹‹æ˜¥å‹ä¿¡åˆ» (Carved by Tomonobu, spring 1898), with the original elaborately knotted and tasseled red silk cords.

Note: This exquisitely modeled figure of a hawk is one of a small number that were made by various artists in the years following the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. At the Exposition, Suzuki Chōkichi (see lots 1, 10, and 20) had exhibited a set of twelve lifelike hawks (now registered as Important Cultural Properties) that he had modeled and chiseled, with the help of 24 assistants, from a wide range of patinated copper alloys under the direction of the legendary Paris-based art dealer Hayashi Tadamasa (1853–1906) and with advice from a professional falconer. Like the present example, each of Suzuki's falcons came complete with its elaborate gold-and-black lacquered stand and silk restraining cord,

The twelve birds were widely admired for their meticulous verisimilitude, miraculous craftsmanship, and evocation of the splendors of a favorite pastime of the Japanese elite, features all admirably emulated in this version made only five years later by Tomonobu. Little is known of this artist beyond the facts that his family name might have been Aoki and he lived in Tokyo, but it is more than likely that he might have been directly trained by Chōkichi himself. 

A similar hawk by Sano Takachika (see preceding lot) is in the Khalili Collection. 

Reference: Haynes 2001, H 10017.0
Impey and Fairley 1995, cat. nos. 120
Wakayama 1972, p. 280; 青木氏。謙介という。東京市住。明治。(Aoki Tomonobu, called Kensuke, resident in Tokyo, Meiji)
Yokomizo 2006.

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