Page 137 - Fine Japanese Art September 25, 2020 Galerie Zacke Netsuke and Sagemono

280 | TOBE KOFU: A SUpERB GOLD-INLAID
FOUR-CASE LACQUER INRO
WITh ThE JUNIShI

By Tobe Kofu (1888-1965), signed Kofu 公風 saku 作
Japan, 20th century
published: Sagemonoya (2004) Sleeping Beauties, p. 45, no. 35.

The inro in the shape of a pouch tied with a gold rope in
takamaki-e, each of the twelve zodiac animals, known as the
junishi, shown against its own circular reserve. The bottom half of
the ground is rendered in a dense gold gyobu and the top, leafy
tendrils are rendered in fine gold hiramaki-e. The boar and the
snake, which are opposing animals in the zodiac, are beautifully
inlaid in gold, the other animals are executed in fine takamaki-e of
various colors, these include: a recumbent goat, a tiger shown as a
wooden wheeled child’s toy, a pair of dogs depicted as inubariko, a
performing monkey, a cockerel, a dragon amongst swirling clouds,
rats feeding on rice, two rabbits playing, an ox under a shelter and
a horse tied to a tree. The interior compartments of dense nashiji
and gold fundame. Signed underneath on the gyobu ground KOFU
saku (made by).

HEIGHT 9.3 cm
Condition: Superb condition.
provenance: Purchased from Sagemonoya, Tokyo, in 2004.

AUCTION COMpARISON
Compare to two inros with gold inlay
by the artist, both sold by Bonhams.
One in Fine Japanese Art including two
masterpieces by Kitaoji rosanjin (1883-
1959), 7 November 2013, London, lot
126 (sold for 5.000 GBp), and the other
in Fine Japanese Works of Art from the
Edward Wrangham Collection (Online
only), 9 July 2018, London, lot 133 (sold
for 5.000 GBp).

Estimate EUR 4.000,-
Starting price EUr 2.000,-

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