HAMANO NORIYUKI: A SUPERB HAMANO SCHOOL TSUBA DEPICTING THE MONKEY KING SONGOKU

Sold for €16,900

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Lot details

Signed Hamano Noriyuki
Japan, 19th century

The iron tsuba of marugata shape, with a sentoku rim, a kogai hitsu-ana and copper sekigane, worked in masterful gold, shibuichi, and copper takazogan, depicting the Monkey King Songoku holding his magical staff and blowing on his hairs, summoning a legion of monkey warriors worked in shallow takabori with some kebori detailing. The verso is detailed with a gold constellation and three archaic symbols. Signed to the front HAMANO NORIYUKI.

DIAMETER 8.5 cm
WEIGHT 168 g

Condition: Excellent condition with minor typical wear and rubbing to the sentoku rim.
Provenance: Ex-collection Alan Hartman (1930-2023). Sold at Christie’s London, The Hartman Collection of Japanese Metalwork, 30 June 1976, lot 251. Alan Hartman compiled one of the most important collections of Japanese art, in particular metalwork and Meiji masterpieces. Parts of his collection have been donated to the Alan and Simone Hartman Galleries in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Brooklyn Museum, and the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

With a fitted wood tomobako storage box.

The Monkey King Songoku is derived from the 16th century Chinese classic Journey to the West, where he is known as Sun Wukong. He became a popular character in Japan when the novel was translated and published during the Edo period. The scene depicted on the tsuba is described in the Journey to the West:

Plucking a handful of hairs from his own body and throwing them into his mouth, he chewed them to tiny pieces and then spat them into the air. “Change!” he cried, and they changed at once into two or three hundred little monkeys encircling the combatants on all sides. For you see, when someone acquires the body of an immortal, he can project his spirit, change his form, and perform all kinds of wonders. Since the Monkey King had become accomplished in the Way, every one of the eighty-four thousand hairs on his body could change into whatever shape or substance he desired (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 129).

Museum comparison:
Compare a related Hamano school sentoku tsuba depicting the same scene, by Iwama Masayoshi, in the collection of the MFA Boston, accession number 11.5459.

Auction comparison:
Compare a related tsuba depicting a monkey and crescent moon, signed Noriyuki, at Zacke, Fine Japanese Art, 16 June 2023, Vienna, lot 219 (sold for EUR 10,400).