Page 66 - Bonhams Royal Collection Fine Japanese Art London Nov. 2019

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SHIBATA ZESHIN 柴田是真 (1807–1891)
INRŌ (MEDICINE CASE) WITH DESIGN OF ANTIQUE MIRRORS
古鏡図蒔絵印籠
Meiji era (1868–1912), circa 1870–1890

With four interlocking cases and cover, of standard lenticular cross- In 1875, Zeshin paid a visit to Nara where he was able to examine
section with straight sides, rounded corners, curved top and base, items stored in the Shōsōin, the eighth-century Imperial treasure
and integrated cord-runners, the roiro lacquer ground decorated in house in the precincts of the Tōdaiji Temple (Earle and Gōke 1996,
black maki-e with a continuous ground of ken-katabami mon (heraldic p. 46, quoting Umezawa Ryūshin’s 1927 biography of Zeshin).
crests of swordblades combined with flowers of wood sorrel, Oxalis Objects from the Shōsōin, until then almost inaccessible to anyone
corniculata), an antique mirror on each side executed in chadō-nuri outside the Imperial court, subsequently played an increasing
takamaki-e, one of the mirrors eight-lobed with a dragon design, its influential role in Japanese art from early in the Meiji era. Zeshin was no
carrying cord in red lacquer extending to the other side and terminating exception to this trend and it is likely that the mirrors depicted on this
in a tassel, the other nine-lobed with a design of two phoenixes inrō were loosely modelled on originals stored in the Shōsōin, either
alternating with paulownia crests, the compartments and risers gold Chinese Tang-dynasty examples or Japanese copies of around the
nashiji, the shoulders and rims brightish gold fundame; the ojime of same date. He lavished typically meticulous craftsmanship both on the
carnelian; lacquered wood manjū netsuke decorated in gold, silver, mirrors and on the dense background pattern of mon (crests).
and red hiramaki-e with two phoenixes; signed in subori to the left of Takao Yō notes that although chadō-nuri, used here for the mirrors,
the handle of the smaller mirror Zeshin 是真 is listed as a separate technique in Sawaguchi Goichi’s monumental
study of Japanese lacquer, Nihon shikkō no kenkyū (1933), in Zeshin’s
Inrō: 7.6cm × 4.8cm × 1.6cm (3in × 1⅞in × ⅝in) time it would simply have been regarded as a variant of seidō-nuri.
Netsuke: 3.5cm × 2cm (1⅜in × ¾in) Chadō-nuri differs from seidō-nuri in that it contains bengara (red iron
oxide) in addition to orpiment (arsenic sulphide), producing an effect
With fitted wood storage box (2) that, as Takao comments, is ideally suited to imitating the surface of
antique bronze (Takao 2011, figs. 14, 15).
Provenance:
Misumi Hisashi Collection
三隅悠 旧蔵 END OF SALE
Sold in these Rooms, 10 November 2015, lot 6

Exhibited:
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2017–2018

Exhibited and Published:
Nezu Bijutsukan (Nezu Museum) 2012, cat. no. 94
£40,000 - 60,000
JPY5,200,000 - 7,700,000
US$49,000 - 73,000

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