Bonhams
Lot 289
ANONYMOUS, KANO SCHOOLEdo period (1615-1868), mid-17th/18th centuryTartars Hunting and Hawking in a Mountain LandscapePair of six-panel byobu (folding screens) painted in ink, mineral colours, gold, and gold leaf on paper with silk borders within black lacquer frames; the right-hand screen depicting Tartars on horseback hunting wild boars, rabbits, and a deer; at top right a Tartar leader looking on accompanied by his retinue including attendants holding a parasol and a banner, the lower foreground occupied by a group of mounted Tartars engaged in the hunt using bows and arrows and spears, at far left another group looking on, at top left a tiger and cub on a crag; the left-hand screen including two mounted falconers and a variety of wild birds, the three rightmost panels with a lake and rice paddies; all set against a background of Kano-style mountains, waterfalls, and trees interspersed with gold clouds and gold flecks. Each overall: 173.5cm x 353.8cm (68¼in x 139 5/8in); image: 158cm x 337.2cm (62 3/16in x 132¾in). (2).Footnotes:Painted screens depicting the northeast Asian nomadic hunters known as Dattanjin or Tartars (also written Tatars), although less numerous or well-known than the so-called Nanban ('Southern Barbarian') screens—with Portuguese ships, their exotic crews, and Christian priests arriving at Japanese ports—reflect the same global outlook that developed during the sixteenth century as trade in goods and information increased between Japan and the outside world, including both Europe and the Asian continent. Similar depictions of Tartars, based on Chinese paintings of the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries and identifiable by their dashing equestrian poses, prominent banners and weapons, and distinctive fur-trimmed hats (later also seen in netsuke and inro), are featured in several important examples preserved in Japanese and American collections. One of the earliest, in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and attributed to no less an artist than Kano Eitoku (1543-1590), shows Tartar envoys bringing tribute (inv. no. 11.4450), but Tartars are more usually shown—in contrast to Southern Barbarians—in their home country, either hunting or playing polo in wild mountain landscapes, often, as here, with senior groups viewing the proceedings from lofty positions. Along with other screens in Boston dating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (see collections.mfa.org/search/objects/*/tartars), there are fine pairs in the National Museum of Asian Art, Washington D.C. (by Kano Jinnojo, active 1610s-1640s, asia.si.edu/object/F1968.62-63/) and Kyushu National Museum (bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/514464). The present pair, of slightly later date, continues in a well-established tradition where Chinese prototypes are augmented by the use of mineral pigments and gold and shown in the much larger, and quintessentially Japanese, screen-pair format.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: * TP* VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.TP Lot will be moved to an offsite storage location (Cadogan Tate, Auction House Services, 241 Acton Lane, London NW10 7NP, UK) and will only be available for collection from this location at the date stated in the catalogue. Please note transfer and storage charges will apply to any lots not collected after 14 calendar days from the auction date.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
