Lot Essay
Two storage box inscriptions dated 1928, one by the artist's son, Shibata Keisai, and one by Shoji Chikushin, attribute this box to Shibata Reisai. Reisai (or Kametaro) was the eldest son of the famous Meiji-period lacquer artist Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891). He studied with both Ikeda Taishin and with his father.
The design is loosely based on a rectangular tenth-century manuscript box (sasshibako) with small gold and silver maki-e designs, a National Treasure in the collection of Ninnaji, Kyoto. (One of the inscriptions notes that Zeshin is said to have admired the Ninnaji box). Both boxes have a central lozenge-shaped arrangement of small floral scrolls (hosoge) with two karyobinga (kalavinka), mythological human-headed birds. In an effort to make the design his own, Reisai added two gold seated Buddhas and replaced the rectangular title cartouche at the center of the lid with an open lotus blossom.
The design is loosely based on a rectangular tenth-century manuscript box (sasshibako) with small gold and silver maki-e designs, a National Treasure in the collection of Ninnaji, Kyoto. (One of the inscriptions notes that Zeshin is said to have admired the Ninnaji box). Both boxes have a central lozenge-shaped arrangement of small floral scrolls (hosoge) with two karyobinga (kalavinka), mythological human-headed birds. In an effort to make the design his own, Reisai added two gold seated Buddhas and replaced the rectangular title cartouche at the center of the lid with an open lotus blossom.