Description:

A RARE FOUR-PANEL SCREEN
Probably Japanese or Indo-Portuguese, unsigned, 16th/17th c.
Je Paneel 189,5 x 62,5 cm
Decorated in sumi-e and colour on paper, showing a subject matter of a European hunting scenes with peacocks, a falcon, pheasants, quails, rabbits and other birds and animals among flowering trees. There are Corinthian columns on either side of the picture and emblems of double-headed eagles in gold moriage.
Christie's London, 15.11.1993, Lot 152 - Important Bavarian private collection

The arrival of the first Europeans in Japan in the 16th century had a profound impact on Japanese culture, particularly in the field of art. The Japanese encountered religious paintings and other liturgical artefacts brought by the Catholic Church, whose most prominent member in Japan was the Basque Jesuit Francis Xavier. In response, seminaries were established in various parts of the country to train Japanese Jesuits. The Europeans, particularly the Spanish and Portuguese, introduced a wealth of books and secular paintings, thereby providing a gateway to the European cultural zeitgeist of the era. Giovanni Nicola, an Italian Jesuit painter, is particularly noteworthy for his dissemination of European painting techniques.However, the acquisition of European materials in Japan proved challenging, necessitating the adaptation of traditional Japanese materials. For instance, in this painting, Japanese paper was predominantly utilised in place of canvas, while traditional pigments such as gunjo, rokusho, tan, gofun, and others, combined with glue or oily substances, served as a medium for the depiction of Western-style paintings.The precise nature of these media remains to be fully elucidated; however, it is highly probable that the hunting scene depicted in the upper portion of the painting was derived from a European print dating from the 16th or 17th century. The facial expressions of the hunters bear a resemblance to those depicted in the six-part screen 'European Genre Scene with Watermill', as illustrated in Namban Art (New York, 1973), specifically on pages 32 and 33. Additionally, there is a similarity to the The pair of screens in the MOA Art Museum, 'Western Genre Scene with Musicians' in The Namban Art of Japan (The National Museum of Art, Osaka 1986), nos. 41 and 42, also bear a resemblance. The figures in these screens appear to be somewhat primitive, and the large eyes with the small dark iris are reminiscent of other screens in this collection. The composition of the lower and middle sections of the screen is in stark contrast to the upper portion, which is rendered in a conventional style.The depiction of water, birds, and animals is indicative of the painting's provenance as a work of Japanese art, and the surrounding gold moriage decoration, featuring a column on each side and four emblems of a double-headed eagle with a single crown above it, is noteworthy for its unusual design. The provenance of this emblem can be traced back to the Byzantine Empire, where it was adopted by the Russian Empire following the marriage of Tsar Ivan III to the niece of the last Byzantine ruler. It subsequently found its way into the heraldry of Serbia, as documented by Von Volborth in his seminal work "Heraldry, Customs, Rules and Styles" (1983), specifically referenced on page 39. Notably, the late twelfth century saw the adoption of a silver eagle, a deviation from the traditional golden eagle, as depicted in the heraldic tradition. This could also be the reason why the Kingdom of Montenegro uses a double-headed eagle.The emperors of the Holy Roman Empire and the emperors of Austria used a double-headed eagle, including Franz Joseph I of the House of Lorraine-Habsburg.It has not yet been possible to establish a precise link between this shield and a specific European noble family, although it is assumed that there must have been one - Damages due to age, rest.

Seltener vierteiliger Stellschirm
Wohl Japan o

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