‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ uchishiki drawing, Japan, Meiji (circa 1880), 94x49cm. An ‘uchishiki’ was a triangular cloth used to cover the front and sides of altars in Buddhist temples. Such cloths were presented to the temple by devotees and, whilst most were obtained - in the very spirit of Buddhism - by recycling discarded fabrics, others were custom-made on purpose and were displaying heavily embroidered auspicious designs. To properly embroider, a ‘guide’ or sample-drawing was needed. What we are offering here are such tools: on meticulously moine hand-made Japanese paper, auspicious motifs such a dragons, lion-dogs, turtles, etc were skilfully drawn with China ink. Usually of high quality drawing, and ‘signed’ by the artist with his own red stamp, these are objects worth collecting on their own, and a lucky find from the depot of a Kyoto-based studio of uchishiki-makers, whose archives tell us these little jewels can be assigned to the second half of the 19th century. The present lot shows a tiger fiercely facing a dragon, kind of ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ scene that actually refers to a Chinese proverb which means "talented or dangerous people hidden from view". Both the tiger and dragon are old buddhist symbols. They have come to be known as oppositional symbols interpreted to represent (in the same way Yin/Yang does) duality and balance reached via the balance of opposing forces. Quite sheer size of folio. Good quality of drawing.