Lot 406: TAKI KATEI (1830-1901), KUBOTA BEISEN (1852-1906),

TAKI KATEI (1830-1901), KUBOTA BEISEN (1852-1906), NOGUCHI SHOHIN (1847-1917), TERASAKI KOGYO (1866- 1919), MIYATO SHOSAI (1857-1906), TAKEUCHI KEISHU (1861-1942), YAMANAKA KODO (1869-1945), MISHIMA SHOSO (1852-1914), TSUTSUI TOSHIMINE (B. 1865), KAJITA HANKO (1870-1917), MIZUNO TOSHIKATA (1866-1908), OGATA GEKKO (1859-1920), SUZUKI KASON (1860-1919), TOMIOKA EISEN (SOSAI, 1864-1905), KOBORI TOMONE (1864-1931), WATANABE SEITEI (1851-1918) AND SUZUKI SHONEN (1849-1918) Meiji era (1868-1912), 1896 Mumeicho (‘Anonymous Album’), a New Year collaboration between the 17 artists listed above, the silk brocade covers decorated with a repeating pattern of New Year sake offerings on a sanbo stand, shimadai (‘island trays’) with images of the old couple Jo and Uba, and other auspicious motifs, bound in orihon format; opening with a title page dated spring of the hinoe-saru year (=1896) and inscribed Mumei (Anonymous) and Meikaku to saku ten with seal Meikaku (the calligrapher Kusakabe Meikaku , 1838-1922); two prefaces by unidentified authors; paintings as follows: Ducks, by Taki Katei ; Two Deer, by Kubota Beisen ; Peony and Butterfly, by Noguchi Shohin ; Chinese Lovers, by Terasaki Kogyo ; Japanese Lovers with a Covered Lantern, by Miyato Shosai ; Lovers Kissing by a Window, by Takeuchi Keishu ; Heian-Period Lovers and Autumn Plants, by Yamanaka Kodo ; An Unscrupulous Doctor Visits a Female Patient, by Mishima Shoso ; Lovers by an Outdoor Curtain, by Tsutsui Toshimine ; Yearning Woman by a Screen, by Kajita Hanko ; Medieval Lovers by a Cherry Tree, by Mizuno Toshikata ; Lovers Beneath a Mosquito Net, by Ogata Gekko ; Hidari Jingoro Pausing from Carving a Cat to Arouse His Lover, by Suzuki Kason ; Demon Lover Seizing a Goddess, by Tomioka Eisen (signed Sosai ); Aroused Fukurokuju and Benten, by Kobori Tomone ; Pair of Cranes, by Watanabe Seitei ; and Pair of Minogame (hairytailed turtles), by Suzuki Shonen ; the paintings followed by a waka poem by Viscount Fukuba Yoshishizu (1831- 1907), a colophon by the novelist Koda Rohan (1867-1947) and a colophon by the translator and scholar of Chinese literature Morita Shiken (1861-1897), with a detached title slip titled Mumeicho (Anonymous Album), dated hinoe-ne (1900), inscribed Youndochu (At the Cloud-Nourishing Grotto) and signed Enryo koji (a name used by the seal-carver Yamamoto Haiseki , 1829-1912); contained within an outer brocade-covered chitsu wrapper decorated with cranes and clouds; with wood tomobako storage box; and with several other letters and documents including an envelope addressed to a Mr Nakagawa Takeo of Yotsuya Minami Teramachi and bearing the stamp of Fukuba Yoshishizu, author of the waka poem; a listing of the album’s contents in a paper wrapper entitled Mumeicho mokuroku (Catalogue of the anonymous album) with the additional information that there was a silk wrapper by the painter Takano Kou (1868-1931). 4.1cm x 21.5cm x 29.1cm (1 5/8in x 8½in x 11½in). (4).