Page 41 - Bonhams May 2017 London Fine Japanese Art

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A GOLD-LACQUER FOUR-CASE INRO
A GOLD-LACQUER FOUR-CASE INRO By Shiomi Masanari, Edo period (1615-1868),
By Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891), Meiji era (1868-1912), late 18th/early 19th century
circa 1870-1890 The wide body with a subdued kinji ground, lacquered in gold and
Of standard lenticular cross-section with squared-off sides, slightly coloured togidashi maki-e with an oxherd on one side sleeping against
convex top and base, and integrated cord-runners, entirely covered a large wicker basket beside a recumbent ox, with slight details of
in black lacquer and decorated on the front and back in gold, aokin, gold foil, the interior of matt-silver lacquer, the risers decorated with
and silver togidashi maki-e with two carp swimming in a pond or river scattered cherry blossoms in gold togidashi maki-e, signed in a
conveyed by a carefully modulated gold-lacquer ground flecked with red-lacquer rectangular reserve Shiomi Masanari; with a coral ojime.
silver, the top, base, interiors, shoulders, and risers all with a similar 6.8cm x 8.3cm (2 5/8in x 3¼in).
finish, signed on the base in gold hiramaki-e characters Maruyama
Okyo no zu o motte Zeshin byo (Drawn by Zeshin after a painting by £3,000 - 5,000
Maruyama Okyo); with a fitted wood tomobako storage box inscribed JPY410,000 - 690,000
outside Yakuro (Medicine case) and inscribed inside Zeshin-o saku US$3,700 - 6,200
Okyo i shusse koi no zu Koma Chikushin kan (Made by the venerable
Zeshin, a picture in the manner of Okyo of a carp symbolizing success,
certified by Koma Chikushin) with a seal Shin, and with a certificate by
Chikushin giving the same information; with a silver ojime carved with
quails and millet.
9.6cm x 6.9cm x 2.2cm (3¾in x 2¾in x 7/8in). (3).

£20,000 - 30,000
JPY2,800,000 - 4,100,000
US$25,000 - 37,000

For a classic example of a naturalistic painting by Okyo of this
favourite Maruyama-Shijo subject, see Sasaki Shohei and Sasaki
Masako, Maruyama Okyo: Shaseiga sozo e no chosen (Maruyama
Okyo: Shaseiga, Challenging a New Frontier), exhibition catalogue,
Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, 2004, cat. no.27, a pair of scrolls
of carp, one of them showing a carp swimming in calm waters and
another showing a carp ascending a waterfall. This latter subject
was also tackled by Zeshin, see Nezu Bijutsukan (Nezu Museum),
Shibata Zeshin no shikko, urushi-e, kaiga, exhibition catalogue, Tokyo,
2012, cat. no.80, an inro in the Misumi collection executed in similar
techniques to the present lot.

For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot FINE JAPANESE ART | 39
please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue.