λ A JAPANESE TOKYO SCHOOL IVORY CARVING BY SHIMAMURA SHUNMEI (1853-1896), OKIMONO

MEIJI PERIOD, 19TH CENTURY

Depicting a mother and child, the beauty wearing a long kimono decorated with a design of chrysanthemums and brocade patterns, the back of the obi with further flowers and fans, the toddler smiling and stretching his hand towards her, the base signed Nihon Tokyo Shimamura Shunmei with a square seal underneath, 28cm.

Provenance: an English private collection, Wiltshire.

PLEASE NOTE THIS LOT IS TO BE OFFERED WITHOUT RESERVE.

Cf. L Bordignon, The Golden Age of Japanese Okimono, pp.202-3 for another okimono by Shimamura Shunmei and p.288 for a short biography of the artist. The author mentions his successful if short career (he died at 42 years old), and his award-winning contributions to Domestic Industrial Expositions and the World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago (1893). He was also one of the founders of the Tokyo Sculptors' Society. Pieces by Shunmei are recorded in the collection of Michael Tomkinson (1841-1921) and at the Tokyo National Museum.