Chaseki okoshiezu 茶席起繪圖 [Folding Drawings of the Famous Teahouses]
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A complete collection of 90 intricate architectural models of tea house designs, with dimensions and components printed lithographically, each design housed in a large folding envelope, manuscript titles on outside of each envelope. The two sets of 45 models are each stored in the two original publisher's boxes, with a printed list pasted to the inside of the lid of both boxes, as issued. A total of 90 envelopes (folded: 255 x 172 mm.). [Japan]: ca. 1920s-30s.
A remarkable creation, a complete set of 90 elaborate architectural pop-ups of tea ceremony houses and related structures, as well as interior features like benches, shelves, boxes, shutters, ceilings, etc. In Japan, paper pop-up models have been used since at least the 16th century as a primary means of communication between carpenters and their patrons, particularly in the construction of tea houses. Precise notes for carpenters and builders have been lithographed on to the numerous flaps. A symbol of sophistication and wealth, tea houses were in great demand in early 20th-century Japan. It is possible that these pop-ups functioned as a trade catalogue from which clients could pick their preferred size and specifications. Printed labels affixed to the inside of the wooden box lids list all 90 models.
The pop-up flaps are attached to floor plans of different sizes and designs. There are notes regarding tea houses designed or favored by famous figures and schools in tea ceremony history. The primary folding flaps consist of exterior and interior walls, ceilings, alcoves, and passageways. The flaps contain detailed drawings on both sides depicting the interior decor, windows and their decorations, passageways, bathrooms, etc. Attached to the wall flaps are more flaps, which show smaller interior objects including boxes, shelves, display alcoves (tokonoma), benches, etc.
The purpose of these pop-up plans was to allow an experienced builder to visualize and construct an entire building from the plans themselves. "The okoshi-ezu has no real counterpart in Western drawing...Okoshi-ezu are extraordinary in that they are both easy to understand and extremely comprehensive - a combination that is usually mutually exclusive in architectural drawing, where legibility tends to decline as the density of information increases. This quality makes okoshi-ezu drawings extremely helpful in studying the buildings they represent. Indeed, okoshi-ezu provided such a complete description of the design that they were often used as the basis for the common practice of copying teahouses; the dimensional and specification information they included meant they could be used as construction drawings. These drawings could communicate so much with so little because their representational qualities were so similar to the actual architecture they represented - thin walls wrapped around cubic spaces to create highly refined and specific compositions of material, space, and light."-Andrew Barrie, "Okoshi-ezu: Speculations on Thinness," in Interstices 11 (online resource).
The name of Sakata Sakujirō 坂田作治郎 appears on both printed labels on the lids; he was a tea ceremony utensil merchant in Osaka.
Our set is in fine condition. A small number of the envelopes have minor foxing; the models are intact and pristine.
❧ See Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System (JAANUS) for a helpful explanation of the uses of okoshi-ezu and tate-ezu 建絵図.
A remarkable creation, a complete set of 90 elaborate architectural pop-ups of tea ceremony houses and related structures, as well as interior features like benches, shelves, boxes, shutters, ceilings, etc. In Japan, paper pop-up models have been used since at least the 16th century as a primary means of communication between carpenters and their patrons, particularly in the construction of tea houses. Precise notes for carpenters and builders have been lithographed on to the numerous flaps. A symbol of sophistication and wealth, tea houses were in great demand in early 20th-century Japan. It is possible that these pop-ups functioned as a trade catalogue from which clients could pick their preferred size and specifications. Printed labels affixed to the inside of the wooden box lids list all 90 models.
The pop-up flaps are attached to floor plans of different sizes and designs. There are notes regarding tea houses designed or favored by famous figures and schools in tea ceremony history. The primary folding flaps consist of exterior and interior walls, ceilings, alcoves, and passageways. The flaps contain detailed drawings on both sides depicting the interior decor, windows and their decorations, passageways, bathrooms, etc. Attached to the wall flaps are more flaps, which show smaller interior objects including boxes, shelves, display alcoves (tokonoma), benches, etc.
The purpose of these pop-up plans was to allow an experienced builder to visualize and construct an entire building from the plans themselves. "The okoshi-ezu has no real counterpart in Western drawing...Okoshi-ezu are extraordinary in that they are both easy to understand and extremely comprehensive - a combination that is usually mutually exclusive in architectural drawing, where legibility tends to decline as the density of information increases. This quality makes okoshi-ezu drawings extremely helpful in studying the buildings they represent. Indeed, okoshi-ezu provided such a complete description of the design that they were often used as the basis for the common practice of copying teahouses; the dimensional and specification information they included meant they could be used as construction drawings. These drawings could communicate so much with so little because their representational qualities were so similar to the actual architecture they represented - thin walls wrapped around cubic spaces to create highly refined and specific compositions of material, space, and light."-Andrew Barrie, "Okoshi-ezu: Speculations on Thinness," in Interstices 11 (online resource).
The name of Sakata Sakujirō 坂田作治郎 appears on both printed labels on the lids; he was a tea ceremony utensil merchant in Osaka.
Our set is in fine condition. A small number of the envelopes have minor foxing; the models are intact and pristine.
❧ See Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System (JAANUS) for a helpful explanation of the uses of okoshi-ezu and tate-ezu 建絵図.
Details
Title
Chaseki okoshiezu 茶席起繪圖 [Folding Drawings of the Famous Teahouses]
Author
TEA HOUSE ARCHITECTURAL POP-UPS
Condition
Unknown