Nô mask of the Magojirô 孫次郎 type

Estimated Value:

3.000 € - 5.000 €

Result:

incl. Premium and VAT

Description:

Japan. Edo period
H. 21,2 cm; B. 13,3 cm
Hinoki wood with coloured frame. Brand stamp on the black lacquered back: Ômi 近江
The Magojirô-mask depicts a young woman at the end of her adolescence and before she has given birth to a child. She is therefore depicted as more mature and sensual than Ko-omote. The Magojirômask was worn in the KongôNo school in a female lead role, in plays such as Kumano, Kakitsubata, Hanagatami, Hajitomi and Yôhiki. Ômi 近江 began his career in the main house of Deme 出目, which gave him the name Mitsumasa 満昌. He separated from Deme, moved to Kyoto and founded the house of Kodama 児玉, which existed for three generations. Ômi Mitsumasa was given the title tenkaichi 天下一 and became friends with the heads of the Kita Nôschool, for whom he carved many masks. He used at least four types of marks: Kodama Ômi 児玉近江 and tenkaichi Ômi are the best known. There is also the brand that consists only of the name Ômi. Kodama Ômi Mitsumasa died in 1704 at the age of 67. The placement of a carver's branding stamp on the right side is unusual.
Formerly the collection of Oskar Graf (1873-1958) and Cäcilie Graf-Pfaff (1862-1939), and since then in family ownership - Private collection Ruhr area
The artist couple is known to East Asia and Japan lovers primarily through the book "Japanese Ghosts" published in 1925. They owned a collection of Japanese colour woodcuts and works of applied art, some of which were on display in the exhibition "Japan and East Asia in Art" in the exhibition park on the Theresienwiese in Munich in 1909 and of which Graf was the first chairman of the exhibition's artistic-scientific directorate. Oskar Graf also had a collection of Nômasks, which he had decorated in his studio, as can be seen from family photographs. He photographed these masks with passion, as evidenced by slides and negatives with numerous photos of his Nômasks - Part. rest. paint, traces of age

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