Lot 72
BY IMAO KEINEN (1845-1924), KYOTO
A pair of six-panel screens, painted in ink on a sumptuous gold leaf ground with gilt copper kanagu fittings. The left screen depicting a peacock and peahen elegantly foraging, the other a peacock taking off in flight, both screens signed Keinen with two seals. (2)
Imao Keinen was a Japanese painter and print designer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and part of the shin-hanga ('new print') movement. He studied ukiyo-e painting with Umegata Tokyo and other Japanese styles with Suzuki Hyakunen. In 1880, he began to teach as a professor at the Kyoto Prefecture School of Painting. In 1904, he became a member of the Art Committee of the Imperial Household and a Member of the Imperial Art Academy in 1919. An important Japanese style painter, Keinen specialized in kacho-ga (flower and bird pictures) with very realistic detail.
The end panels 175cm high, 59.5cm wide
Estimate $20,000 - $30,000
Left screen: Scattered light to medium surface marks to the gold leaf ground in places throughout with the exception of a larger horizontal scratch to the top right quadrant of the far left panel. Isolated losses to the ground observed in three places to the edges of two panels, light wear to the gilding in places at the joint between several panels. Mount and lacquered frame in overall good order with losses commensurate with age and gentle use.
Right screen: Scattered light to medium surface marks to the gold leaf ground on places througout with the exception of areas of slight lifting to the right hand edge of the third panel from the right hand side. Light wear to the gilding in places at the joint between several panelsMount and lacquered frame in overall good order with losses commensurate with age and gentle use.
The opinions expressed in the condition reports are a guide only and should not be treated as a statement of fact. Prospective buyers are encouraged to inspect articles for sale at our pre-sale viewing where Leonard Joel staff are available for advice.
Leonard Joel makes no guarantee of the originality of mechanical or applied components. Absence of reference to such modifications does not imply that a lot is free from modifications.
Born in Kyoto, Imao Keinen first studied under the Ukiyo-e style painter Umegawa Tokyo in 1854. Three years later he joined the studio of the Shijo-Maruyama School artist Suzuki Hyakunen. Keinen won a silver medal in 1900 at the Paris Exposition and in 1904 he won a gold medal at the Saint Louis Exposition. That same year Keinen was appointed a Teishitsu Gigeiin or Imperial Court Artist. Keinen served as a judge for the Bunten with its inception in 1907. Keinen's exquisitely delicate kachoga or bird-and-flower paintings received high acclaim overseas as well as within Japan. Keinen passed away in Kyoto at the age of 79 on October 5, 1924. Imao Keinen's paintings are in the collections of the Ashmolean Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Tokyo National Museum, and the Yamatane Museum of Art.
Asian Works of Art
AUCTION
Sale: LJ8406
6:00pm - 24 May 2021
333 Malvern Rd, South Yarra 3141
VIEWING
Viewing:
Friday 21 - Sunday 23 May, 10am-4pm
CONTACT
Chiara Curcio
asianart@leonardjoel.com.au
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