A LACQUER DOCUMENT BOX (BUNKO)

Details

A LACQUER DOCUMENT BOX (BUNKO)
(20th century), signed genjuro no saku and sealed [yoshida genjuro (1896-1958)], dated cyclically on outer wood box Showa 8 (1933)

Of rectangular shape with angled corners decorated on the lid with a weeping willow and a flowering cherry tree and spring flowers intersected by bands of mist, the blossoms rendered in gold hiramaki-e and takamaki-e with details of keuchi and gold powder and many of the leaves red and gold, the intersecting clouds polished and accented by nashiji, the stream flowing beneath the cherry boughs executed in gold and black togidashi and the rocks and flowers of the foreground in gold takamaki-e, keuchi and gold powder and nashiji, some of the flowers given a red blush by the red underlayer of the gold lacquer, the background of the box nashiji; the upper and lower sides a continuation of the foreground and the interior and base nashiji, rims silver, signed in gold lacquer in the lower interior section and in wood tomobako signed on the underside Genjuro no saku and sealed and dated cyclically Showa 8 (1933)--16 7/8 x 13 7/8 x 5½in. (42.8 x 35.3 x 13.9cm.)

Lot Essay

Yoshida studied lacquer craft with Yoshijiro Ishii and graduated in 1919 from the lacquer department of the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. He exhibited in the Teiten and Shin Bunten exhibitions, winning the Imperial Art Academy award for a cabinet shown in the 1943 Shin Bunten. In 1948 he became a professor at the Kanazawa Junior College of Arts and Crafts. In addition to his work training younger craftsmen, and his efforts to revitalize the position of the lacquer craftsperson, he became a leader in the Japan Lacquer Craft Association.

For another example of his work see The National Museum of Modern Art, ed., Japanese Lacquer Art: Modern Masterpieces (New York and Tokyo: Weatherhill/Tankosha, 1982), pls. 69-70.