Adam's Fine Asian Art Preview 23 November 2021

www.adams.ie 103 Preview Asian Art |23 rd November 2021 AN EXTREMELY RARE JAPANESE MOUTH ORGAN SHO JAPAN, EDO PERIOD The circular air chamber is lacquered in gold hiramaki-e and nashiji style, shibuishi mouthpiece, bamboo tubes with shibuishi fittings. H: 43 cm €4,000 - 8,000 NOTES: 1. The sh ō ( 笙 ) is a Japanese free reed musical instrument that was introduced from China during the Nara period (AD 710 to 794). It is descended from the Chinese sheng, of the Tang Dynasty era, although the sh ō tends to be smaller in size than its contemporary sheng relatives. It consists of 17 slender bamboo pipes, each of which is fitted in its base with a metal free reed. The instrument’s sound is said to imitate the call of a phoenix, and it is for this reason that the two silent pipes of the sh ō are kept—as an aesthetic element, making two symmetrical “wings”. 2. Compare with two closely related sh ō , one preserved at the Metro- politan Museum of New York (The MET), The United States of Amer- ica, under accession number 68.62.2, the other one preserved at the Museum of Fine Arts of Boston (MFA), The United States of America, under accession number 2002.136.