Beschreibung:

Lot details By Yabu Tsuneo (active after 1926), signed Meizan Japan, c. 1930 The pear-shaped body supported on a slightly spreading foot and rising to a waisted neck and garlic-head mouth with short lipped rim, the neck flanked by two cloud-form handles, the exterior exquisitely enameled with a procession of oni and yokai, including a three-eyed bakemono with a small pet, an Okame-like demon riding a boar, and a toad holding a tall staff. The base with the finely gilt signature MEIZAN. HEIGHT 12 cm Condition: Good condition, little rubbing to gilt. One of the handles restored. Provenance: British private collection. Hyakki Yagyo (‘Night Parade of One Hundred Demons’), also transliterated Hyakki Yako, is an idiom in Japanese folklore. Sometimes an orderly procession, other times a riot, it refers to a parade of thousands of supernatural creatures known as oni and yōkai that march through the streets of Japan at night. Kawanabe Kyosai (1831-1889), also known as ‘The Demon of Painting’ and a contemporary of Yabu Meizan, composed a book of paintings depicting a series of such demonic parades near the end of his life, which was first published after the artist’s death in 1889. Meizan was clearly familiar with this work and decided to recreate it for one of his pieces, heightening Kyosai’s designs with his painting and gilding techniques. Yabu Tsuneo was the son of Yabu Meizan (1853-1934). He worked in the style of his father after his retirement in 1926. Like his father, his designs were quirky and often inspired by the work of Kawanabe Kyosai (1831-1889). Auction comparison: Compare a related miniature Satsuma vase by Yabu Meizan, depicting a humorous procession of monkeys, 11.2 cm high, at Bonhams, Fine Japanese and Korean Art, 15 March 2017, New York, lot 6241 (sold for 12,500 USD).