Lot 190: A LARGE EMBROIDERED WALL HANGING Designed by Nishimura Sozaemon (1855-1

A LARGE EMBROIDERED WALL HANGING Designed by Nishimura Sozaemon (1855-1935) and embroidered by Sasaki, Meiji era (1868-1912), late 19th/early 20th century Finely worked and handwoven with abundant use of coloured silk threads of gold, green, brown, white, red, pink, grey and black depicting rustic thatched huts around which bird-and-flower scenes associated with the four seasons are shown including a family of chickens pecking for food among flowering chrysanthemums in the foreground, five cranes wading beside a stream beneath a pine tree on the lower right, two groups of sparrows flocking towards flowering plum trees and sotetsu (sago palm or cycad) trees in the middle section, two diagonal formations of swallows in flight in the upper section and a pagoda shrine nestled among a cedar grove beneath a mountain rising in the distance, signed with two square reserves Gashi Nishimura (designed by Nishimura) and Nuishi Sasaki (embroidered by Sasaki) respectively. Overall 264cm x 175cm (104in x 68 7/8in), image 227cm x 138cm (89 3/8in x 54 3/8in).

The name Sasaki in one of the signatur es likely refers to Sasaki Seishichi (1844-1908), a master weaver active in the Nishijin district of Kyoto who manufactured large-scale textiles, often working for Iida Shinshichi, founder of the Takashimaya Department Store. Nishimura, in the other signature, refers to Nishimura Sozaemon (1855-1935), a Kyoto artist and entrepreneur who developed new decorative textile techniques.