Lot 134: Yamazaki Choun (1867-1954)

A Wood Sculpture of Tanomura Chikuden Showa Period (Dated 1939) The painter Tanomura Chikuden (1777-1835), seated on the ground with his hands around his left knee and with a separate gourd at his side, complete with table-stand in a different wood, signed on the base Chikuden sensei Choun saku [Master Chikuden, made by Choun], with fitted wood box, the outside of the lid with a raised panel inscribed Showa juyon tsuchinoto-u toshi risshun no hi Yamazaki Choun [Yamazaki Choun, on the first day of spring in the fourteenth year of Showa, the sixteenth year of the cycle (=1939)] and with a seal Choun, this information repeated on the main body of the lid with the addition of the words Teishitsu Gigeiin [Artist to the Imperial Household], the reverse of the lid with a lengthy inscription signed by the artist with certificate signed and sealed by the artist 10in. (25.3cm.) high LITERATURE Matsuzakaya Department Store (Ueno), Yamazaki Choun isaku ten (Exhibition of works by Yamazaki Choun] (Yamazaki Konzo ed.; Tokyo, 31 May-5 June 1955), cat. no. 27. NOTES One of the most prominent sculptors of the early Showa period, Yamazaki Choun first exhibited in 1895 and was later a regular exhibitor at the Bunten and Teiten exhibitions.