Page 72 - 2019 September 11th Bonhams Lewis Collection Japanese and Korean Art NYC

586
HEIAN MITSUAKI AND MITSUISHI
(ACTIVE EARLY 20TH CENTURY)
An inlaid suzuribako (writing box)
Meiji (1868-1912) or Taisho (1912-1926)
era, early 20th century
With a domed cover, decorated in Rinpa style
in black lacquer on a bright kinji ground with
inlays of simulated pewter depicting rocks
in crashing waves and a classical poem, the
characters inlaid in silver, the interior with a
continuation of the design and fitted with a
(interior view) rectangular inkstone and silver water dropper
With two wood tomobako storage
boxes, the inner box inscribed on the
cover Korin Suminoe maki-e suzuribako
no utsushi (Copied from the Suminoe
writing box by [Ogata] Korin), signed on
the underside Mitsuaki hitsu (Brushed by
Mitsuaki), and signed and sealed Heian
Mitsuishi
10 3/8 x 10 5/8 x 3in (27 x 25.5 x 7.5cm)
$3,000 - 5,000

Provenance
Purchased from Erik Thomsen Asian Art,
Bensheim, September, 2004.

Published
Stephen Little and Edmund J. Lewis, View
of the Pinnacle: Japanese Lacquer Writing
Boxes: The Lewis Collection of Suzuribako,
Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2011,
cat. no. 42

This writing box is a faithful reproduction of
a famous writing box by Ogata Korin (1658-
586 1716), designated as an Important Cultural
Property and now in the Seikado Bunko
Museum, Tokyo. The poem, rendered here
in inlaid silver characters, reads as follows:
Suminoe no / kishi ni yoru nami / yoru sae
ya / yume no kayoiji / hitome yoguramu (At
Suminoe / the waves break upon the shore
/ even in the night / Like them will you soon
draw near / along the pathway of dreams?).

587
A LACQUER KOGO (INCENSE
CONTAINER)
Edo period (1615-1868), 18th/19th century
The tall incense container of mokko section
and lacquered in two shades of gold
and silver hiramaki-e on a nashiji ground,
decorated on the cover with three phoenixes
in flight and on the body with a band of
plum-blossom crests
With a silk brocade shifuku (storage bag) and
a wood tomobako storage box
2 15/16in (7.5cm) high
$1,500 - 2,000

587

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