A Soft-Metal Panel depicting Fukurokuju

Unno Shomin is one of the greatest of the Meiji/Taisho period metal artists. He was born in the castle town of Mito (present-day Ibaraki Prefecture), and from the age of nine studied under his uncle Unno Yoshimori (Bisei) and Hagiya Katsuhira (1804-96), both leading makers of sword fittings of the Mito school. He was taught painting by Adachi Baikei and calligraphy by Take Sojiro during his years in Mito. Then with the name Motohira (using one of the characters from Katsuhira’s name), in 1871, he went to work in Tokyo. In 1890, Shomin was appointed to the Tokyo School of Art (present-day Tokyo University of the Arts), where he was to work with Kano Natsuo (1828-1898). He was made lecturer in metalwork in 1894.

Shomin won prizes at the first, second and several later Domestic Industrial Exhibitions. His work is considered second only to that of Kano Natsuo, who strongly influenced him, and is thought to have produced joint works with Shomin. Like Natsuo, Shomin was honoured as a Teishitsu Gigeiin [Imperial Artist] in 1896.

Shomin exemplifies the transition of the traditional metalworker from the manufacture of sword fittings to that of decorative objects. He assumed the name Shomin in reference to the great metal smith Yokoya Somin (1670-1733), who is credited with the perfection of katakiri-bori (sculpting with oblique cuts of the chisel in simulation of brush strokes). The katakiribori chiselwork of the present lot is particularly characteristic of Shomin, reflecting both his early study of calligraphy and Natsuo’s influence.