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![A LARGE AND IMPRESSIVE SILVER SCULPTURE OF TAKASAGO [THE ISLAND OF LONGEVITY]](https://staging.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/CKS/2017_CKS_13988_0128_002(a_large_and_impressive_silver_sculpture_of_takasago_the_island_of_long042127).jpg?w=1)
![A LARGE AND IMPRESSIVE SILVER SCULPTURE OF TAKASAGO [THE ISLAND OF LONGEVITY]](https://staging.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/CKS/2017_CKS_13988_0128_000(a_large_and_impressive_silver_sculpture_of_takasago_the_island_of_long042127).jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The concept of an island of immortality is found in Japan since the Heian period as a decoration on the backs of cast bronze mirrors, with the pair of cranes either symmetrically opposed, or in later work depicted freely as in this composition. The Jo and Uba theme is also the subject of a popular Noh drama. Their conjugal fidelity which continues even after death is evoked in the pine needles which remain attached two together even after falling from the tree.
The artist Unno Bisei, or Unno Yoshimori (1864-1919), was the son of Unno Moritoshi whose father Unno Yoshimori (1785-1862) was an accomplished maker of metal sword fittings. He studied metalwork under Shomin, and painting under Imao Keinen and Kawanabe Kyosai. He became professor of the School of Fine Art in Tokyo, and was appointed a Teishitsu Gigei-In [Imperial Artist] in 1892. He is especially known for his large-scale works in silver, and is well known for his silver relief portraits of the Meiji Emperor and Empress.
Another fine example of his silver sculpture is of an archer hunting on horseback in the Khalili Collection.1 Both the Khalili figure and this sculpture are set on similar large wooden stands, and it is possible that they both came from the Musashiya company, which set up established in Yokohama by Ozaki Yahei and his son Sadajiro in Yokohama expressly for the export of fine works of art.
This piece is a hitherto unrecognised and unpublished example of the grandest of Unno Bisei’s major silver sculptures.
1. Oliver Impey and Malcolm Fairley eds., The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Japanese Art, Metalwork vol. 2, (London, 1994), no. 111
The artist Unno Bisei, or Unno Yoshimori (1864-1919), was the son of Unno Moritoshi whose father Unno Yoshimori (1785-1862) was an accomplished maker of metal sword fittings. He studied metalwork under Shomin, and painting under Imao Keinen and Kawanabe Kyosai. He became professor of the School of Fine Art in Tokyo, and was appointed a Teishitsu Gigei-In [Imperial Artist] in 1892. He is especially known for his large-scale works in silver, and is well known for his silver relief portraits of the Meiji Emperor and Empress.
Another fine example of his silver sculpture is of an archer hunting on horseback in the Khalili Collection.1 Both the Khalili figure and this sculpture are set on similar large wooden stands, and it is possible that they both came from the Musashiya company, which set up established in Yokohama by Ozaki Yahei and his son Sadajiro in Yokohama expressly for the export of fine works of art.
This piece is a hitherto unrecognised and unpublished example of the grandest of Unno Bisei’s major silver sculptures.
1. Oliver Impey and Malcolm Fairley eds., The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Japanese Art, Metalwork vol. 2, (London, 1994), no. 111