Art Treasures of Kinloch Castle: June 2014

JAPANESE ONI WARRIORS

AND CHINESE ARTEFACTS
First hand research and photographs by George W. Randall

co-founder in 1996 and former

Vice Chairman Kinloch Castle Friends' Association

A pair of red lacquer figures of Oni in full battledress carrying a

barrel suspended from a large kanabō (a knobbed wooden club)

used as a weapon in Buddhist feudal Japan to cripple the opponent rather than kill. Each figure holds a small kanabō in his left hand.

The visible end of the barrel has two partly open hinged doors

revealing four drawers.

To each side of the barrel is a double tassel suspended from a hook. Small pegs on the feet of the figures secure them to their ornately carved cinnabar and lacquer base which bears the gold coloured

Trade Mark of Kuhn & Komor, Yokohama and Hong Kong.

Kuhn and Komor was a Japanese curio business established by Isidor Komor and his cousin Arthur Kuhn in 1897, their China premises being opened the following year in the Palace Hotel, Shanghai, followed by stores in Hong Kong, Kobe and Singapore.

The image to the right was published in “Scotland’s Magazine” in December 1959, thirty-four months after purchase of the 26,400 acre island and Kinloch Castle by the Conservative Government of the day.

Despite being recognised as a fully furnished time capsule of the

late Victorian/Edwardian Era subsequent use of the building as

a hotel in the late 1980’s to 1994, allowed guests complete freedom

to roam resulting in wear and tear plus inevitable damage to

a number of contents, including the Oni.

The pair of badly damaged Oni figures photographed in August 1997

resting against a window in the former Butler’s Pantry.

The figures were minus their base, kanabō and barrel.

Fortunately all but the tasseled barrel were subsequently found

and the partly restored item displayed in the Castle Library.

BUT WHY WAS SUCH NEGLECT ALLOWED TO HAPPEN?

THESE ARE PUBLICLY OWNED ARTIFACTS KINDLY GIFTED TO THE NATION
IN 1957 BY LADY MONICA BULLOUGH AS A MEMORIAL TO HER LATE HUSBAND,
SIR GEOGE BULLOUGH, Bt., WHO COMMISSIONED KINLOCH CASTLE IN 1897 AND FURNISHED HIS HIGHLAND ISLAND HOME
WITH TREASURES FROM AROUND THE WORLD.

The interior of Kuhn & Komor's 37 Water Street, Yokahama shop.
Of particular note is the large Cloisonné Vase to the right, very similar,
but not one to the pair purchased by George Bullough and displayed
on the Great Hall Gallery at Kinloch Castle.

Kuhn and Komor was a Japanese curio business established

by Isidor Komor and his cousin Arthur Kuhn in 1897, their China premises being opened the following year in the Palace Hotel, Shanghai, followed by stores in Hong Kong, Kobe and Singapore.

The image top right was published in “Scotland’s Magazine”

in December 1959, thirty-four months after purchase of the

26,400 acre island and Kinloch Castle by the

Conservative Government of the day. Despite being recognised

as a fully furnished time capsule of the late Victorian/Edwardian Era subsequent use of the building as a hotel in the late 1980’s to 1994, allowed guests complete freedom to roam resulting in wear and tear plus inevitable damage to a number of contents, including the Oni.

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CHINESE AND JAPANESE TREASURES AT RISK

Research and Text by George W. Randall

Displayed in Library at Kinloch Castle this late 19th century Imari circular charger (an ornate dish), measures 23 inches (58.5 cm.

in diameter, and is painted with shaped panels of Shou Lao

(the stellar deity of longevity), deer, mon (family insignia),

butterflies and flowers.

Made in Arita, close to the town of Nagasaki on the island of Kyushu, “Imari” porcelain is named after the south Japanese port

from which it was exported to America and Europe.

It has a characteristic decoration, aka-e (first produced circa. 1640)

in blue with added red, gilt and other bright enamels.

George W. Randall Archive Copyright ©

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JAPANESE THREE-FOLD SILK EMBROIDERED SCREEN

Also in the Library is a Japanese three-fold screen each large embroidered silk panel within a carved wood mount of Prunus speciosa, the Oshima Cherry, depicting numerous species of birds, above each a much smaller panel, encased in a carved mount of dragons, portraying birds and flowers.

Each large leaf measures 68 inches (173 cms.) by 25½ inches (65 cms.).

The central panel was described as “detached” in the 1979 Inventory and was photographically recorded as such in 2012 - thirty-three years later - suffering brown staining along the bottom edge due to being stored directly on a wooden parquet floor close to double French doors.