Japanese Works of Art - 20th May 2026

Lot 889

A PAINTING BY KITANO TSUNETOMI (1880-1947)

Estimate £1,500 - £2,500 | Hammer £1651

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Description

KITANO TSUNETOMI (1880-1947)
BEAUTY WITH FAN
SHŌWA ERA, 1920s-1930s

A Japanese Nihonga-style scroll painting in ink, gofun, and colours on silk, depicting a beauty with an elaborate hairstyle, holding a fan and demurely concealing her mouth behind her sleeve; signed Tsunetomi and sealed Kitano Tsunetomi; mounted on silk brocade, 40cm x 40.5cm.

Provenance: from the collection of Frederick Leyman Evans (1878-1951), and thence by descent. Evans was a prominent British executive for British American Tobacco (China) Ltd. who resided in Shanghai from the 1920s to the 1940s, where he became a known figure in the expatriate business community and a collector of fine Asian art.

See the British Museum, access. no.2001,1123,0.2, the Harvard Museum, access. no.2025.9, and the MET Museum, access. 2023.6 for other examples of scroll paintings by Kitano Tsunetomi depicting beauties.