Antique Japanese Art
Welcome to our website for Japanese art. We would like to invite you to discover our collection of fine antique works of art, ranging from screen paintings and hanging scroll to traditional ceramics, elegant lacquer works, exceptional sculptures and intricately woven bamboo flower baskets. All of our objects are unique masterpieces carefully selected by the gallerist and art historian Dr. Fabian Alexander Kommoss for their historical significance and outstanding quality. Galerie Kommoss is a leading gallery for fine Japanese art in Europe.
Why Japanese Art?
Refined elegance and astonishing craftsmanship on one side, and rough, coarse-looking ceramics that seem to have been created by nature itself on the other, the wide spectrum of Japanese art is fascinating and never monotonous. In fact, the opposite is true: Whether you look at the more popular and immediately appealing images of a Hokusai, the serene beauty of Japanese Buddhist sculpture, or the often complex aesthetic programs of traditional tea culture, the deeper you delve into the complex images, often subtly imbued with metaphorical meaning or humor, the more exciting it gets. What makes Japanese art so attractive to us is its pervasive characteristic of understanding the natural world as a source of spiritual insight and an instructive mirror of human emotion.
Upcoming Exhibition
The upcoming exhibition Painted Poems, Written Images – Poetic Art by Ōtagaki Rengetsu brings together paintings, calligraphy, and ceramic works by Japan’s most famous 19th-century female artist. Known for her elegant handwriting, Rengetsu often reveals a sophisticated and complex relationship between materiality and meaning in her works. The complete exhibition can be viewed online.
Object of the Month
Enjoy the arrival of spring with this beautiful gold-lacquered tea caddy by one of Japan's greatest 20th-century lacquer masters: Ippyōsai VI. Ippyōsai VI, also known as Ippyō Eizō, was the 7th generation of one of the leading families of lacquer masters in Kyōto. The exterior of his tea caddy is finished in polished black lacquer and decorated in gold maki-e with an all-over pattern of maple leaves and cherry blossoms, some of which are highlighted in a beguiling pink. We can think of no better way to celebrate the rebirth of nature than with this abundance of symbols of life.
