During his last years the acclaimed lacquer artist Shibata Zeshin made several large format pictorial plaques – the first a panel of Mount Fuji viewed from Tagonoura shown at the 1873 International Exposition in Vienna.
The 3ft 4in (1.06m) wide panel which carries an estimate of £350,000-400,000 at Sotheby’s Japanese Art sale on May 14 was exhibited in 1890 at the Third Domestic Industrial Exposition at Ueno, Tokyo, where – as indicted by an inscribed tomobako (wooden box) – it was awarded the Myogi Itto Sho (First Prize for Exquisite Technique).
It once belonged to the second president of the Mitsubishi Financial Group, Iwasaki Yanosuke (1851-1908). A similar panel is in the Khalili collection while another was lost in the Taisho earthquake of 1923.
Daoguang wine cup
Sotheby’s will follow its Important Chinese Art sale on May 15 in London with a St George Street sale of Asian Art on May 17 that includes more modestly priced wares across the collecting spectrum.
This 4in (10cm) iron red and green enamelled ‘dragon and phoenix medallion’ wine cup and warmer carries a Daoguang (1820-50) six-character mark and is of the period. Bought by the vendor as part of a mixed lot at a Sotheby’s sale in 1978, it is estimated at £2600-3000.
