Page 62 - Wolley & Wallace, July 1, 2020 Japanese Works of Art UK

339
A SMALL JAPANESE LACQUER INCENSE BOX AND INNER COMPARTMENTS, KOBAKO
MEIJI PERIOD, 19 CENTURY
TH
Of rectangular form, the lids decorated with birds on perches, two possibly hawks and the third a small parrot, with details in hiramaki-e, tamaki-e, togidashi and
kirikane, red and silver lacquer, inscribed to the side with a two-character signature for Ayabe and kao, 5.8cm x 9.2cm x 11.8cm. (6)
£300-500

340
λ THREE JAPANESE CARD CASES
MEIJI PERIOD, 19 CENTURY
TH
Two in ivory decorated in Shibayama style with inlays in mother of pearl, coral, stained ivory and metal, one depicting three
fish to one side and a sponge gourd to the other, the other case with figures in luxuriant gardens to both sides, the third in
lacquer decorated in gold and silver hiramaki-e and nashiji with two shojo drinking out of a large sake jar and with a flowering
prunus to the reverse, signed to the side, together with two small circular lacquer boxes and covers decorated with flowers,
12cm x 7cm max. (10)
£1,000-1,500
Provenance: from the collection of Anne Hull-Grundy (1926-1984) and thence by descent.
Hull-Grundy was an important art collector whose bequests of jewellery and netsuke to the British Museum and the Fitzwilliam
Museum, Cambridge, include some of the finest pieces in the museums’ collections. Her principle for acquiring new artworks was:
Anne Hull-Grundy “if you don’t fall in love, don’t buy it!” and she saw herself as “a large spider sitting at the centre of a web of dealers, salesrooms and
(1926-1984) museums”. She was hoping that through their collection, which also included important Martinware, she and her husband would get
“a ticket to life eternal”.

60 See paragraphs 4 & 5 of our conditions of business at the back of the catalogue for additional charges on the final hammer prices