<p>Leporello bound album; silk covers; inside of covers decorated with gold flitters; in original wooden box inscribed and sealed by Seisetsu Seki.</p><p>12 paintings and 12 paired calligraphies. 2 double page calligraphies at beginning and at the end. Each painting with one or more of Seisetsu Seki`s seals. A large number of Seisetsu Seki`s seals were used throughout the album.</p><p>A unique masterwork by Seisetsu Seki. I have seen no comparable work by Seisetsu Seki.</p><p>Seki Seisetsu 精拙 関 1877 - 1945 was born on 18 January 1877 in Hyogo Prefecture. As a baby he was given to Seki Soshun a Zen priest of Tenrin-ji temple in a nearby village. Soshun raised him and his entire life until his death a few months after the end of WWII Seisetsu remained a Zen monk. When he was 30 he received his <em>inka shômei</em> = formal acknowledgement of a student's completion of his Zen training. In 1922 when he was 45 he became head <em>Kanchô</em> of Tenryû-ji; next to his new duties he also found time for calligraphy and painting.<br />He was very versatile both as a calligrapher and as a painter. Especially his sense of humour was remarkable. On the other hand Seisetsu became notorious because of his obvious sympathies with the Japanese cause in WWII and because he wanted to integrate <em>bushidô</em> "the way of the warrior" and Zen. He authored a book on this subject. <br />Just before the fall of Nanking Seisetsu went on national radio to say: "Showing the utmost loyalty to the emperor is identical with engaging in the religious practice of Mahayana Buddhism. This is because Mahayana Buddhism is identical with the law of the sovereign." He then called for the "extermination of the red devils" communists both in Japan and in China. Seisetsu even carried his message to the battlefield visiting the Chinese front in 1938.<br />Seeing the devastations as a result of the war he preached peace the last few months of his life.</p>
London: Ernest Benn Limited 1924. 4to. 13 x 9 1/4 inches. viii 84 4 pp. 110 full-page black and white plates. Signed by the author. Full original brown morocco spine in six compartments with raised bands lettered in the second and third top edge gilt other edges uncut<br/> <br/> Deluxe first edition of this rare finely bound reference book on Chinese bronze objects: numbered 31 out of 40 copies of which only 35 were offered for sale.<br/> <br/> An important work in the fields of both art and archaeology the author attempts to display the range of bronze objects produced in China from the Hsia dynasty 2205 BC to the Song dynasty 1279 AD. It includes an excellent bibliography is well indexed and provides information on detecting forgeries. Koop wrote the work while he was on the staff of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Ernest Benn Limited unknown
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