Page 75 - Wolley & Wallace, July 1, 2020 Japanese Works of Art UK

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λ A COLLECTION OF FORTY-THREE JAPANESE BEADS, OJIME
EDO AND MEIJI PERIOD, 18 AND 19 CENTURY
TH
TH
Strung as a necklace and made of mixed materials including ivory, coral,
aventurine, glass, metal and others, variously depicting figures, animals, objects
and abstract designs, two in wood inlaid with mother of pearl, coral, horn, and
ivory and signed Shibayama, some others also with signatures, 2.5cm max. (43)
£400-600
Provenance: from the collection of Richard Gordon Smith (1858-1918)
and thence by descent. Gordon Smith was an English traveller, sportsman
and naturalist who lived in Japan at the turn of the century. He transcribed
traditional myths in “Ancient Tales and Folklore of Japan” (1908) and his diaries
were later published in “Travels in the Land of the Gods: The Japan Diaries of
Richard Gordon Smith” (1986).

Richard Gordon Smith (1858-1918) during his travels in Japan
and an ojime bead necklace he illustrated in his Diaries.

378
λ A JAPANESE SHIBAYAMA STYLE IVORY BOX AND
COVER
TH
MEIJI PERIOD, 19 CENTURY
The square box with rounded corners, the lid realistically carved in
low relief with Kikujido, the small child holding a firefly, a woven
basket and sprays of flowers behind him, the sides delicately
decorated in gold and silver hiramaki-e lacquer with many
chrysanthemum flowers, the inside with seven lines of calligraphy,
the foot with a thin band of key fret and the base signed Baisensai
Munehide with kao, 5.5cm. (2)
£200-300
The story of Kikujido, “the Chrysanthemum Boy”, appears in the Noh play
Makurajido. The boy remains youthful 700 years after writing the lines of
the Lotus Sutra gifted to him by the Emperor on chrysanthemum leaves,
when dew drops had become an elixir for Immortality.

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