Page 61 - Christies Japanese and Korean Art Sept 22 2020 NYC

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A TWO-TIERED LACQUER TABLE
EARLY 20TH CENTURY, NISHIMURA HIKOBEI
Decorated in gold and silver hiramaki-e, takamaki-e, togidashi, kirigane
and gyobu hirame and inlaid mother-of-pearl, the top designed
with the Uji bridge beside a willow tree, waterwheel and jakago
(basketwork cages to prevent erosion), the bridge of gold foil, the
lower surface with further willow and clouds above a stream, the side
panels with open work of stylised shippo design, lined with silver, the
table with engraved shakudo mounts
24¡ x 10 x 15 in. (61.9 x 25.4 x 38.1 cm.)
With double wood box, the inner wood box titled Momoyama
hyakuso Yanagibashi makie chou-taku, signed Nana-sei Heian Zohiko
saku (made by the seventh generation, Heian Zohiko), sealed Zohiko
$15,000-20,000

The Zohiko lineage dates from the time of the Kyoto lacquer
craftsman Nishimura Munetada (1720-1773), who acquired the
nickname "elephant boy" (Zohiko) for his lacquer image of the
deity Fugen (Samantabhadra) on an elephant mount. This stand
is possibly from the workshop in the periods of the seventh-
generation Nishimura Hikobei. His nephew, the eighth generation,
received the gold medal for his work at the Panama Pacific
International Exposition of 1915.
For an almost identical table in the collection of the Mitsui
Memorial Museum, see Zohiko Urushi Art from the Mitsui Memorial
Museum Collection, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Mitsui Memorial Museum,
2011), pp. 50-51.