One Hundred Chrysanthemums by Keika Hasegawa, $4400 (£3600) at Bonhams Skinner.
Little has been published regarding her dates, training, wider oeuvre or processes as a printmaker. Most museums record only that the artist was ‘active c. 1893-1905’.
However, one of Keika’s works is very well known: her three-volume book of woodcuts depicting chrysanthemums, the official flower of Japan.
One Hundred Chrysanthemums was printed in 1893. The flower had been the focus of centuries of Japanese cultivation and by the late 19th century hundreds of new varieties had been created, some with super-sized blooms.
Demonstrating great powers of observation, Keika gave at least a page to each one, and in the second volume sometimes depicts a flower across two pages.
Given their decorative qualities, many copies of One Hundred Chrysanthemums have been broken up over the years to create sets of framed botanical prints.
However, the full three intact volumes published by Yamada Naosaburo came for sale at Bonhams Skinner (23% buyer’s premium) in Boston as part of the firm’s Asian Works of Art auction that ran online until October 17. Estimated at $4000-6000, it took $4400 (£3600).
Kangxi copper red, celadon and underglaze blue meiping, $80,000 (£66,200) at Bonhams Skinner.
Leading the sale was a large copper red, celadon and underglaze blue Kangxi meiping-form vase. Decorated with Three Friends of the Winter, with copper red blossoms, pine needles in underglaze blue, and carved bamboo in light celadon glaze, it stood an impressive 2ft 3in (68cm) high.
Estimated at $20,000-40,000, it took $80,000 (£3600).
