31st Mar, 2025 11:00
Pursuing Perfection, the Perino Collection
40
TA 5% Vat. NAGASAWA ROSETSU (1754 — 1799)
A fighting cockerel, Shamo
NAGASAWA ROSETSU (1754 — 1799)
A fighting cockerel, Shamo
Edo period, circa 1795
A Japanese hanging scroll painting, kakejiku, ink and colour on silk, with a realistically depicted fierce-looking fighting cockerel by a rugged rock beneath a blooming cherry tree, signed Rosetsu and sealed Gyo.
Image 111cm x 49.5cm; total 64cm x 206cm
Provenance: the Claudio Perino Collection, Turin, acquired mostly in Japan in early 2000s.
Exhibited: MAO Museo d'Arte Orientale, Turin, and MUSEC Museo delle Culture, Lugano, 2020 - 2022.
Literature: featured in the exhibition catalogue Kakemono, Five centiuries of Japanese painting. The Perino Collection, p. 34, no 7.
PLEASE NOTE BIDDING FOR THIS LOT IS SUBJECT TO A DEPOSIT OF £2,000
Cockerel fights were a popular gambling pastime in Edo period and Shamo - the name derived from Siam - is a type of domestic fowl imported from Thailand in early 17th century. The birds have been selectively bred for several hundred years and prized for their endurance and fighting spirit. The chicken depicted in the current painting is shown in a tense pose as if ready to pounce at a rival bird. It is spring as indicated by the blooming sakura tree and in bird calendar- a time to find a mate. The small feathers scattered around his feet suggest the altercation has already been in progress. The scroll is potentially a pair to another painting, most likely lost, but still able to tell the snippet of the story unfolding in front of us.
Rosetsu came from a line of a low-ranking samurai family and travelled to Kyoto to join the studio of Maruyama Ōkyo. His character was too big for the Maruyama school and the young painter left, finding employment with the feudal lord of Yodo and occasionally completing a commission for various temples. Similarly to Itō Jakuchū, Rosetsu has been a lay Zen pupil. The inspiration with Zenga is clearly visible in the more freely executed of Rosetsu's paintings.
His paintings are part of a number of important private and museum collections, such as the British Museum in London, the Harvard Art Museums in Cambridge, the Brooklyn Museum in New York and the Fuji Art Museum to name a few.
This lot has been imported from outside the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission (TA) regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. Standard VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium. Buyers are invited to familiarise themselves with these rules prior to bidding.
Sold for £5,535
NAGASAWA ROSETSU (1754 — 1799)
A fighting cockerel, Shamo
Edo period, circa 1795
A Japanese hanging scroll painting, kakejiku, ink and colour on silk, with a realistically depicted fierce-looking fighting cockerel by a rugged rock beneath a blooming cherry tree, signed Rosetsu and sealed Gyo.
Image 111cm x 49.5cm; total 64cm x 206cm
Provenance: the Claudio Perino Collection, Turin, acquired mostly in Japan in early 2000s.
Exhibited: MAO Museo d'Arte Orientale, Turin, and MUSEC Museo delle Culture, Lugano, 2020 - 2022.
Literature: featured in the exhibition catalogue Kakemono, Five centiuries of Japanese painting. The Perino Collection, p. 34, no 7.
PLEASE NOTE BIDDING FOR THIS LOT IS SUBJECT TO A DEPOSIT OF £2,000
Cockerel fights were a popular gambling pastime in Edo period and Shamo - the name derived from Siam - is a type of domestic fowl imported from Thailand in early 17th century. The birds have been selectively bred for several hundred years and prized for their endurance and fighting spirit. The chicken depicted in the current painting is shown in a tense pose as if ready to pounce at a rival bird. It is spring as indicated by the blooming sakura tree and in bird calendar- a time to find a mate. The small feathers scattered around his feet suggest the altercation has already been in progress. The scroll is potentially a pair to another painting, most likely lost, but still able to tell the snippet of the story unfolding in front of us.
Rosetsu came from a line of a low-ranking samurai family and travelled to Kyoto to join the studio of Maruyama Ōkyo. His character was too big for the Maruyama school and the young painter left, finding employment with the feudal lord of Yodo and occasionally completing a commission for various temples. Similarly to Itō Jakuchū, Rosetsu has been a lay Zen pupil. The inspiration with Zenga is clearly visible in the more freely executed of Rosetsu's paintings.
His paintings are part of a number of important private and museum collections, such as the British Museum in London, the Harvard Art Museums in Cambridge, the Brooklyn Museum in New York and the Fuji Art Museum to name a few.
This lot has been imported from outside the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission (TA) regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. Standard VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium. Buyers are invited to familiarise themselves with these rules prior to bidding.
Auction: Pursuing Perfection, the Perino Collection, 31st Mar, 2025
We are thrilled to offer a selection of pieces from a distinguished Italian private collection of East Asian art.
Dr Claudio Perino begun collecting in the early 2000s. His interest in Japanese lacquer soon transitioned into woodblock prints and ceramics, eventually focusing on paintings from the Edo and Meiji periods.
Always eager to share the joy of experiencing his treasures, Dr Perino exhibited his lacquer, prints and paintings at the MAO - Museum of Oriental Art in Turin between 2008 - 2023. The twenty-four paintings featured in the current sale were a part of a large exhibition curated by Prof Matthi Forrer at the Museo delle Culture in Lugano and later the Torinian MAO between 2020 - 2022.
Among the sixty-seven lots presented here, there are a few pieces of Korean ceramics. Chinese art is represented among others by a porcelain plaque by Wang Qi, an early Qingbai ewer and two important Qing Dynasty embroidered silk robes.
Lots 38 and 40 will be a subject to a deposit payable at least 24hours before the auction day.
All lots are sold under Temporary Admission. Additional 5% is added on the hammer price, standard 20% VAT applies to our Buyer's Premium of 23%.
For any questions relating to the sale, please contact the Head of the Japanese Department, Marta Somauroo at marta@azcaauctions.com.
Viewing
7th - 30th March 2025, Monday to Friday: 11am to 4pm
Note:
Saturday the 29th and Sunday the 30th March the preview will be open from 11am to 4pm
