Page 12 - Bonhams September 12 2018 New York Japanese Works of Art

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SUZUKI MICHIHIRO 鈴木道廣 (ACTIVE CIRCA. 1890)
A Shibuichi Cigarette Box
蘆雁図彫金四分一莨箱
Meiji era (1868–1912) late 19th–early 20th century
With rounded corners and domed flush-fitting lid, the interiors and
rims of silver, supported on four bracket feet, the top with a lobed
frame of geometric ornament enclosing a silver border surrounding
a central panel of shibuichi finely decorated in gold, silver, shakudō,
and shibuichi, with a goose flying up from a river with a weathered
mooring-post and grasses, the sides with insect and plant designs,
signed on the cover at lower right Michihiro 道廣 with a gold seal-
style mark
1 5/8 × 3 3/4 × 3 1/8 in. (4 × 9.6 × 7.9 cm)

$10,000 - 15,000

Here inlay of gold, silver, and Japanese copper alloys is combined
with deft chiseling that reflects the enormous influence of Kanō
Natsuo (1828–1898), doyen of decorative metalwork from the late
Edo period to the early Meiji era. As with lot 11, the artist borrows a
pictorial subject of Chinese origin that entered the Japanese canon
in medieval times, in this case rogan, “goose and reeds.” Michihiro
can likely be identified with Suzuki Mitsuhiro, a resident of Tokyo, who
is listed as having exhibited metalwork at the third Naikoku Kangyō
Hakurankai (Domestic Industrial Promotion Exhibition), held in 1890.

Reference
Haynes 2001, H 05031.0
Tōkyō Kokuritsu Bunkazai Kenkyūjo 東京国立文化財研究所 (Tokyo
National Research Institution of Cultural Properties), 1996 IIIb-507
Wakayama 1972, p. 454

10 | BONHAMS