Lot 271: A WOOD FIGURE OF A KIRIN By Ishikawa Komei (1852–1913), Meiji (1868-191

A WOOD FIGURE OF A KIRIN By Ishikawa Komei (1852–1913), Meiji (1868-1912) or Taisho (1912-1926) era, early 20th century Standing with its head turned to the right looking upward, the pupils inlaid in dark horn, its tail curved around its right leg, the fur and flame markings carved in delicate low relief, signed on the tail Komei; with a wood storage box (an old paper label with inscriptions inside the box). 41.2cm x 28cm (16¼in x 11in). (3).

Born into a family of temple craftsman, from the age of ten Komei studied painting for a time under the academic artist Kano Kazunobu (1816–1863) before training as an ivory carver in the workshop of Kikugawa Masamitsu, a netsuke maker. Starting in 1876, he exhibited his widely at home and abroad, participated in the interior decoration of imperial palaces, and in 1890 was appointed Teishitsu Gigeiin (Artist to the Imperial Household). In the closing years of his career he occasionally carved in wood; see Jiro Harada, ‘Japanese Art and Artists of To-day IV: Wood and Ivory Carving’, The Studio, XLII (December 1910), pp.110. Even though the kirin is, of course, a mythological creature, here Komei, clearly taking a horse as his model, carves in the naturalistic style also seen in his ivory figures of monkeys and other creatures. Confucian texts teach that the kirin (in Chinese, qilin), with a deer’s body, a horse’s hooves, an ox’s tail, and a single horn on its head appears on earth only during the reign of a virtuous monarch; as such a large carving of a kirin would have made a splendid congratulatory gift, even during the twentieth century. For a somewhat later unsigned figure of a kirin, of similar size and offered as a gift by Yasujiro Tsutsumi (1889–1964), a titan of Japanese industry and commerce, see Grace Tsumugi Fine Art, Japanese Works of Art, London. 2016, cat. no.42. (signature)