SHIBATA ZESHIN 柴田是真 (1807–1891) DOOR WITH AUTUMN MAPLE-VIEWING SCENE 紅葉狩図蒔絵板戸Meiji era (1868–1912), late 1880sA paulownia-wood door panel, decorated in high-relief gold, silver, red, brown, and black takamaki-e, some areas highly polished and others heavily textured, depicting a silver tea kettle suspended from a natural branch laid on two rocks over a fire, pine needles and curling maple leaves lying nearby; the reverse painted in ink and silver paint with a sparrow flying above a stylized stream with sprigs of seri (Japanese parsley, Oenanthe javanica); signed in subori on the right, at the base of the rock, Zeshin 是真 with a kaō resembling the character kin 巾59.3cm × 39cm (23⅜in × 15⅜in)With cloth-bound outer storage box (2)Provenance:Sold in these Rooms, 10 November 2015, lot 7Exhibited and Published:Nezu Bijutsukan (Nezu Museum) 2012, cat. no. 47注脚In his catalogue note for the 2012 Zeshin exhibition at the Nezu Museum, Takao Yō comments that the technique and design of this door is closely related to a much-praised maki-e panel depicting a mushroom-gathering scene submitted by Zeshin to the first Naikoku Kangyō Hakurankai (National Industrial Promotion Exhibition), held in 1877. Designs based on the autumn custom of maple-viewing were one of Zeshin's favourite themes during the final fifteen years of his long career: here he uses the range of special finishes he had perfected during the preceding decades to produce an exceptionally deep three-dimensional effect. Similar rough, rich textures, probably emulating of Western oil painting, are also seen, for example, on the rocks in Zeshin's panels of crayfish, exhibited in 1888, 1889, and 1890 (Gōke 1981b, pl. no. 3). Parts of the fireplace are executed using a carving technique also seen in Zeshin's inrō made to resemble ancient sticks of ink (see, for example, Nezu 2012, cat. nos. 93–96).A closely-related maki-e panel of this subject by Keishin, in the collection of Zeshin's eldest son Reisai (1850–1915), was reproduced in a biography of Zeshin published in Kenchiku kōgei sōshi in June 1914 (Suzuki 1914).The kaō Zeshin added after his signature on this piece, in the form of the character kin 巾, is seen on works dating from 1879 onward (for other examples, see Earle and Gōke 1996, p. 30, [h]).