A JAPANESE KOMAI-STYLE IRON MODEL OF A THREE-TIERED PAGODA C.1910-15 Elaborately decorated in...

A JAPANESE KOMAI-STYLE IRON MODEL OF A THREE-TIERED PAGODA

C.1910-15

Elaborately decorated in gold and silver nunome zogan, the base with dense geometrical patterns and with two drawers on either side of a short flight of stairs, each register with railings and hinged doors opening to reveal further drawers of different sizes variously decorated with birds, flowers and landscapes. The walls with further birds, flowers, geometrical patterns and other views, some of the Kiyomizu-dera temple and of Mount Fuji, with sloping roofs decorated with dragons, phoenix and tennin holding musical instruments and Buddhist precious objects, and hung at the corners with bells, the upper roof surmounted by a tall thin stupa, together with a fitted wooden stand, 37cm overall. (2)

Provenance: from the Weber Family collection, Bristol. Acquired in the early 20th century.

Cf. J Earle, Splendors of Imperial Japan, Arts of the Meiji Period from the Khalili Collection, p.86-87, no.37 for a comparable two-storey shrine by the Komai workshop.