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Subject:Unsigned Kano painting attibution and dating
Posted By: Lita K Mon, Sep 08, 2014 IP: 108.20.0.157

I found this Japanese Kano school painting in an antiques shop today and it is unsigned, which makes it exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to identify and/or date.

It was mounted in a non traditional, Western manner,on thick card stock, matted and framed sometime between 1943 to 1963, known because the framer's sticker on the back of the frame has a 2 digit zip code and they were only used during those years, not that it's even relevant to the painting itself.

I believe that framing was not the first time it was framed since there appears to be 2 different sets of matte burn as indicated by two different sized matte burn marks on the paper.

There are two possible scenarios, I think.

It was originally either A, a kakemono that suffered decades of deterioration and damage and was consequently trimmed and framed to save the remaining portion and the signature was destroyed,

or B, it was a section of a multiple sheet/panel work and the signature was on a different section of the work, and if so, it was still trimmed when framed.

I have been reading on Kano school painters and looked at hundreds of works and it's virtually impossible for me to attribute this to anyone specific or determine if it's of Momoyama, Edo,or Meiji.

If anyone has any suggestions of ideas, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this work.

Thank you








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