WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME PHILATELY?
Who knew that a stamp could
lead to the identification of a KNOWN PERSON on a SATSUMA BUTTON and some super
interesting ART HISTORY!?!
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| FLYING BUTTON RANCH COLLECTON |
This large *postage pun warning* FIRST CLASS button
was framed with the stamp, so I HAD to know what this all means! The identification of the stamp was a (fairly easy) no brainer
for me, LOL. However, the research on exactly where the image originally came
from took a bit more work and I love it when I can share that kind of fun info. with all my button friends!
The large collectible Japanese 10 yen stamp is dated
1960, and by looking at the sharp edged self shank, I’m pretty sure the button
is probably from around the same period as well.
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| YUP, THAT'S A QUARTER FOR SIZE COMPARISON. THE BUTTON AND THE STAMP ARE HUGE! |
The button and stamp feature LADY ISE (also called "Ise no miyasudokoro,") c. 875 - c. 938, who was a court lady and also one of the THIRTY-SIX POETIC IMMORTALS. She was known for her passionate love poems with 22 poems in the Kokinshu and 170 poems in total.
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| WELL, AT LEAST A BAD REPUTATION IS EASY TO MAINTAIN! LOL!! |
She was the daughter of Fujiwara no Tsugukage and in the
Heian-period aristocratic ladies did not use their personal name, but were known
under nicknames which were often based on the position of a male family member.
In this case, Ise's father had been provincial governor of Ise (Ise no kami),
and that determined her name.
Her famous poems tell of her love affairs with two brothers:
Fujiwara no Nakahira and Tokihira. Later she became the concubine of Emperor
Uda, with whom she had a son.
THE HISTORY OF THE BUTTON IMAGE - THE SATAKE FRAGMENTS:
Exactly one hundred years
ago, in 1919, Japan’s newspapers reported extraordinary news. A group of
industrialist connoisseurs had acquired one of the country’s most precious art
treasures: a set of thirteenth-century hand scrolls, previously owned by the
Satake family, known as THE SATAKE VERSION, THIRTY-SIX IMMORTAL POETS.
Originally
it was a two-volume scroll based on the 36 poets selected by Fujiwara no Kinto
and Sumiyoshi Myojin, a god of waka poems. Each of the poets was depicted
separately with a short biography and a poem using a portrait style known
as nise-e to depict the poets in yamato-e style.
Even more newsworthy was that the wealthy financiers were
going to separate the two rare hand scrolls into individual fragments, to be divided
among themselves. They were remounted as hanging scrolls for private use in their
own tearooms. Owning one of the Satake fragments was the
ultimate Japanese status symbol, defining its owner as an undisputed member of
the country’s cultural elite. Over the next 100 years, the individual paintings moved from private collection
to private collection and most times their whereabouts were unknown even to art
specialists and museums.
In October of 2019, The Kyoto National Museum, Heisei Chishinkan Wing will exhibit the reunited paintings for an exhibit in the most comprehensive
assemblage of the fragments of the scrolls since their separation a century ago. In addition to the legendary
fragments, the show will feature an array of artwork related to the Thirty-Six
Immortal Poets and the elegant literary court culture of that time.
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| The Kyoto National Museum poster for the 2019 ExhibitKyoto National Museum 527 Chaya-cho, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, Japan 605-0931 |
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| Lady Ise, one of the Satake scroll fragments. The identical design to the painted Satsuma Button and Stamp. |
Lady Ise is depicted seated in typical court
dress of the 13th century which is reproduced on the button with vibrant colors and gold details.
The layered formal attire that dragged on
the floor was originally the daily garment of imperial wives and ladies of the
palace to the "ladies of the fifth rank" ( myōbu 命婦)
when they were serving in court, but it soon became daily dress of the wives of
dignitaries when they were at home.
It
was not uncommon to be dressed in three sets of five, six or even seven
dresses, so that with the linings, some of the outfits reached forty layers of
fabric. It came to a point that the ladies, coming in procession to take
their places, could not even raise their arms to hide their faces with their
fans and when they were seated, they were surrounded by a billowing heap of silk that formed a beautiful bed
of colors.
THE STAMP:
The collectible stamp which is dated 1960, was reproduced
from one of the original 13th century paintings of the Satake
Fragments by designer Saburo Watanabe. Stamp collectors could also purchase this single stamp in various mountings or groups of the same stamp.
Stamp collecting is also called
Philately (the study of stamps), and is a hobby quite similar to button collecting. It includes collecting
and analyzing different varieties of postage stamps, preserving them in good condition, understanding and exploring themes and subjects illustrated
on stamps, researching about rare postage stamps, error stamps etc.
Philatelists also evaluate postage stamps based on demand, condition and
rarity. The first postage stamp appeared in 1840 in Britain and pictured a young Queen Victoria and immediately a hobby was born. I've seen some old articles with buttons and stamps in some of the collector's magazines (Hobbies, NBS Bulletins, Just Buttons, etc.). I didn't have time to look for them for this post, but I'm sure you can search the NBS site for them!
I hope you find the FBR posts to be FIRST CLASS and you’ll
give my blog page a STAMP of approval. *grin* I also hope you'll go visit my FBR Facebook Page (<- link) with a LIKE and SHARE for this blog post and page. And by the way… I love
your comments (because PHILATELY will get you everywhere, ha ha) so be sure to leave one here or on the FBR facebook page!
OKAY, I’ll ZIP it
(for now)! LOL
<3 FBR
P.S. Did you hear that the Post Office just
recalled their latest stamps? They had pictures of lawyers on them ...and
people couldn't figure out which side to spit on.
