Lot 21. Makino Baisen (? - 1860), Whales and hunting boats. Each sealed Baisen and Masaoki. Estimate $40,000 - $60,000. Price Realized $137,000. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016.

Pair of six-panel screens; ink, color and gold flecks on paper; 62 ¾ x 155 ¾ in. (159.4 x 395.7 cm.) each

Provenance: Private Collection, Akita Prefecture, Japan

Note: The depiction of whale is extremely rare in Japanese art and not so many examples are known. 

The renown print artist from the same period, Utagawa Hiroshige II (1826-1869) also worked on the same subject in one of his works Hizen Goto geiryo no zu (View of a Whale Hunt at Goto in Hizen Province) from the series Shokoku meisho hyakkei (One Hundred Famous Views in the Various Provinces). The print with this impression is in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, accessible online at http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/196846?search_no=1=40

Christie's. AN INQUIRING MIND: AMERICAN COLLECTING OF JAPANESE AND KOREAN ART, 15 April 2016, New York, Rockefeller Plaza