A RARE JAPANESE WOOD PLAQUE BY ISHIKAWA KOMEI (1852-1913)

A RARE JAPANESE WOOD PLAQUE BY ISHIKAWA KOMEI (1852-1913)

MEIJI ERA, DATED 1912

The disc decorated with a plump rat gnawing on small seeds, the charming rodent depicted in low relief, the surface of the wood grain featuring vertical striations in various shades of chocolate-brown; inscribed with three lines of calligraphy reading Meiji Mizunoe-ne Gantan, Gyonen Rokuju-ichi-sai (New Year's Day, in the year 1912 of the Meiji Period), signed Komei underneath and with a seal reading Ishi (for Ishikawa); with two metal hooks to the top for suspension; together with a fitted tomobako wood box, 31.7cm. (2)

Ishikawa Komei was recognised as one of the greatest artists of the Meiji Era. Born in Asakusa, Tokyo, he grew up in a family of miya-bori (sculptors of wood carvings for Shinto shrines). In 1891, he was appointed as Teishitsu Gigeiin (Imperial Craftsman), and then became Professor at the Tokyo School of Fine Art. His work was exhibited in Japan and overseas, and he received many awards for his works, both in his own country and internationally. His sculptures were admired at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition (1876), the Paris Expositions Universelles (1889 and 1900), Chicago's World's Columbian Exposition (1893), and the Japan-British Exhibition (1910). Komei died on 30th July 1913, a year after he carved this plaque, when he was at the apotheosis of his career.