Beschreibung:

The magnificent rectangular panel rendered in tones of pale cloud gray, black and white showing Mt. Fuji rising through the mists of cloud banks, the signature three peaks of the acclaimed landmark a brilliant silhouette against the pearl gray sky and the soft billowing clouds surrounding it, the panel set into a Western style rosewood frame. Dimensions 17 7/8 x 33 1/2 inches (45.5 x 85cm) Provenance: the collection of Dr. Alfred Owre of Minneapolis, former Dean of the College of Dentistry, The University of Minnesota, later Dean of the School of Dental and Oral Surgery, Columbia University, New York, by descent to the family Note: Dr. Owre, a noted collector of Japanese cloisonne enamels, traveled extensively in Europe and Japan in the 1880s and 90s, amassing a collection of over 1130 pieces of Japanese and Chinese metalwork. Most of his collection was sold in New York in 1917 at the American Art Association, Managers, in a sale conducted by Mr. Thomas A. Kirby. This unsigned plaque is clearly the product of a master artist. Family correspondence and lore attributes it to Namikawa Sosuke. Dr. Owre noted in a 1930 letter that he obtained a plaque of Mt. Fuji from the son of Namikawa Sosuke in 1915, to 'replace my large collection (just sold).' He stated that the plaque was by the 'late Sosuke Namikawa, and is the exact copy of a famous kakemono by Tsunenobu Kano, in the collection of the late Count Sano.' While the dimensions of the plaque in this correspondence differ from the piece offered in this sale (1'10" x 3'1" [22 x 37 inches]), the measurement could have been inclusive of frame (rather than 'exclusive of frame') as noted in the correspnodence. It also appears that our lot was likely the subject of negotiations between Dr. Owre and the Metropolitan Museum of Art for potential sale/purchase that fell through when an interested donor passed away. A plaque of Mt. Fuji is documented to have passed from Dr. Owre to his son, Alfred Owre upon his death in 1934, and is still noted as part of the family holdings in a 1989 letter written by Dr. Alfred Owre, Jr. While an association with the Namikawa family is provided as a background for this lot, the absence of signature coupled with a distinctly ethereal quality of the work set it apart from the body of work we associate with Sosuke. This does not preclude authorship by this artist; however, it makes it difficult to substantiate. The key to this puzzle may well reside in a publication discovered recently by a colleague researching this plaque: An Illustrated Catalogue of Japanese Modern Fine Arts Displayed at the Japan-British Exhibition, (London, 1910), Compiled by the Office of the Imperial Japanese Government Commission to the Japan-British Exhibition, Tokyo. This catalogue illustrates a nearly identical plaque, listed as no. 169, entitled 'Mount Fuji (wireless), Ando Jubei.' A close comparison of that illustration to this lot cannot confirm that itis indeed the same piece; nor can the subsequent history of this published example be traced and current whereabouts confirmed. However, the stylistic similarities argue strongly for a Jubei attribution for our lot.