Page 223 - Fine Japanese Art March 27, 2020 Galerie Zacke Netsuke and Okimono
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253 | A VERY RARE INRO ZUSHI
(PORTABLE SHRINE)
WITH KOKUZO BOSATSU
Unsigned
Japan, 18th century, Edo period (1615-1868)
The outside appearing like a conventional saya-inro fitted into a
shibuichi sheath. The front and back with very fine gold, silver and
red togidashi-e lacquer depicting two Nios (temple guardians)
behind a temple gate, one of them holding a vajra. The ground is
lacquered in black roiro-nuri with sparse gold flakes. The temple
guardians are protecting what is revealed inside, and what a
revelation it is! Inside is a hidden zushi (portable shrine) depicting
Kokuzo Bosatsu (Akashagarbha Bodhisattva) atop a flaming lotus
pedestal, holding a sword and tama (sacred jewel). The details are
rendered in extremely fine polychrome lacquer and pigments. The
opposite panel depicts a stylized lotus flower shedding five leaves.
With a silvered brass ojime of two masks and a kagamibuta netsuke
showing the Nara Daibutsu, signed NAGATOSHI 長利.
HEIGHT (of inro) 10 cm
Condition: The inro in
good condition with minor
general wear, thin cracks
to the side, a small chip to
the underside and minor
252 | YAMADA JOKASAI: A MAGNIFICENT AND An unusually large three-case inro with a roiro ground and
LARGE LACQUERED THREE-CASE INRO sprinkled with dense green powder creating a unique and rare wear to the inside. The
kagamibuta netsuke with
surface. The image on both sides is executed in gold lacquer and a large chip to the ivory
By Yamada Jokasai, signed Jokasai colored togidashi-e and depicts Gama Sennin holding his frog over bowl.
Japan, 19th century, Edo period (1615-1868) his shoulder on one side, and Tekkai Sennin blowing out his soul on Provenance: Collection
the other. The risers on the inside showing gold kinji and the inside Patrick Donald, who
Published: with red matte lacquer. Signed JOKASAI 常嘉齋 on the underside in formed an eclectic
The Netsuke Kenkyukai Study Journal, Vol. 14, no. 2, Summer 1994, gold. collection of Japanese
p. 31, fig. 20. Art. With neatly written
Wrangham, E.A. (1995) The Index of Inro Artists, p. 99. HEIGHT 8.5 cm, cue card with detailed
LENGTH 8.5 cm description and sketches.
Exhibited: The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1972, no. 21.
Condition: Very good and Estimate EUR 4.000,- Patrick Donald at Southside House,
original condition. Very Starting price EUR 2.000,- Wimbledon
few surface scratches and
miniscule expected wear to
lacquer.
Provenance: Sir Trevor
Lawrence collection,
no. 576. F.A. Richards
collection, purchased at
Sotheby’s London, 1964.
Wrangham collection,
no. 339 (with old label
inside). Then collection Drs.
Edmund und Julie Lewis,
New York.
The images of Gama Sennin
and Tekkai Sennin are taken
from a Chinese painting
by the fourteenth century
artist Yen Hui, published in
Inro fu, a book of designs Published in Netsuke Kenkyukai
for inro taken from Chinese Study Journal,
originals, printed in 1717. vol. 14, no. 2, p. 31, fig. 20,
showing the inro design was
Estimate EUR 5.000,- influenced by the 14th century
Auction result from Bonhams Starting price EUR 2.500,- Chinese painter Yen Hui.
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