Page 69 - 2021 March 16th Japanese and Korean Art, Christie's New York City

PROPERTY FROM A PRINCELY COLLECTION
49 AN IMITATION-STONEWARE LACQUER TEA CADDY

(CHAIRE)

EDO-MEIJI PERIOD (19TH CENTURY), SIGNED ZESHIN(SHIBATA ZESHIN; 1807-1891)
The tall cylindrical body with a shoulder, the
dark brown body decorated with variegated
yellowish and reddish brown lacquers falling
short of the unglazed foot, simulating the body
of Seto ware, with a carved wood lid
2√ in. (7.3 cm.) high

$15,000-20,000

PROVENANCE:
F.A. Richards collection, purchased at Sotheby's
London, 1964.
Wrangham collection, no.342.

The lacquer artist Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891) was
one of the elite group of craftsmen, schooled in the
fashions of the Edo period who made the great leap
from the dictates of the feudal society into the Age of
Enlightenment and Westernization in Japan in the Meiji
era (1868 -1912).

He was known as the master of kawarinuri, the technique
of lacquer to imitate the irregular surface of metal or
stoneware. Here, he adds a further twist by making
the caddy in bamboo body, which is extremely light
in contrast to the heavy stoneware caddy one would
expect to encounter. He made lacquer works of tea
utensils such as vases, vessels and trays in the same
technique. For other works by Zeshin in similar style, see
Shibata Zeshin: From Lacquer Arts To painting(Tokyo:
Nezu Museum , 2012), no. 61-63.