Kashioka Tamazan (fl. Meiji-Taisho Periods), Boat Pullers, Taishō period (1912-1926), dated 7th lunar month, 1919. Photo courtesy Helena Markus Antique Japanese Screens.

Two-panel furosaki screen. Seal Tamazan no in Kashioka. Signature Shoin Shujin (head of the Shoin studio).Ink and colours on buff paper. H 75 x W 170 cm

The two-panel furosaki screen depicts funahiki, men pulling boats upstream.

The first furosaki screens were produced during the Edo period to fulfil society’s new requirements and increased demands. The furosaki screen is a format connected with the tea ceremony, it usually stands in a corner behind the tea master during his ritual preparation of tea. For the first time, single two-fold screens dedicated primarily to tea rooms spaces formed an important new genre of furniture.

Funahiki is an important topic in Japanese poetry, where it has long been a symbol of travel and of the passing of time – it is moreover a symbol of autumn.

Furthermore, the lone figure seated in a boat and clad in a mino, a coat made of reeds, is from another poetic tradition, both Japanese and Chinese. Both of these traditions have long been depicted within the arts of Japan and are combined here in one composition. The season is clearly the autumn, the topic which is repeated in the vegetation, and in the inscription by the artist.

The screen would have been shown for tea meetings in autumn and then stored away for the rest of the year.

The seals read “Seal of Tamazan” and “Kashioka”. Kashioka is the family name and Tamazan the artist’s name.

The signature can be translated as “Master of the Shōin Studio” or, if the painter was also a tea master, “Master of the Shōin Tearoom” this would fit well with the fact that the painting is a furosaki screen.

Provenance: Japan.

Helena Markus Antique Japanese Screens. MasterArt at TEFAF 2014. 14-23 march 2014 - http://www.masterart.com/