Lot 36
36
A FINE FOUR-CASE INRO
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VA… Read more VARIOUS PROPERTIES
A FINE FOUR-CASE INRO

SIGNED KORYUSAI AND ISHIGURO MASATSUNE, EDO PERIOD (19TH CENTURY)

Details
A FINE FOUR-CASE INRO
Signed Koryusai and Ishiguro Masatsune, Edo Period (19th Century)
Gold lacquer ground; decoration in gold takamaki-e with extensive use of gold flakes and gold dust and details in shell, applied with shibuichi, shakudo and gold; compartments and risers gold nashiji; shoulders and rims gold lacquer; signed in gold hiramaki-e underneath Koryusai and on a rectangular gold plaque Ishiguro Masatsune; stone ojime
A lady with a fan and drum sitting in a boat beneath a weeping-willow tree
2 7/8in. (7.3cm.) high
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The seated figure may be identified as Asazuma, mistress of the fourth shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna (r. 1651-80) who was first depicted in this way by the painter Hanabusa Itcho (1652-1724). Itcho's painting earned him more than ten years' exile, but Asazuma was later conveniently conflated with the much earlier and less controversial Azumaya-gimi, a character in the 11th-century Genji monogatari [Tale of Genji]

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