Lot 153
153
A LACQUERED-METAL KOZUKA (HANDLE FOR A SMALL UTILITY KNIFE)
A LACQUERED-METAL KOZUKA (HANDLE FOR A SMALL UTILITY KNIFE)
A LACQUERED-METAL KOZUKA (HANDLE FOR A SMALL UTILITY KNIFE)
A LACQUERED-METAL KOZUKA (HANDLE FOR A SMALL UTILITY KNIFE)
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The Edward Wrangham Collection of Japanese Art
A LACQUERED-METAL KOZUKA (HANDLE FOR A SMALL UTILITY KNIFE)

JAPAN, EDO PERIOD (MID-LATE 19TH CENTURY), SIGNED ZESHIN (SHIBATA ZESHIN; 1807-1891)

Details
A LACQUERED-METAL KOZUKA (HANDLE FOR A SMALL UTILITY KNIFE)
JAPAN, EDO PERIOD (MID-LATE 19TH CENTURY), SIGNED ZESHIN (SHIBATA ZESHIN; 1807-1891)
The ground finished in gray-silver shibuichi-nuri to imitate a metal block, meticulously engraved in katakiri and kebori with Hotei, the God of Happiness, seated on a boat beside his treasure sack and holding a fan, after a design by Yokoya Somin, inscribed in lightly incised characters on the reverse Shokado utsushi Somin (made by Somin after a painting by Shokado [Shokado Shojo, 1584-1639]) with a kao, signed Zeshin.
3 ¾ in. (9.5 cm.) long
Provenance
Wrangham Collection.

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Zheng Ma
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Lot Essay

Zeshin produced a number of inro, netsuke, and other objects in techniques and styles derived from sword fittings, but kozukas are comparatively rare. For a similarly lacquered copper kozuka in the collection of the Nezu Museum, see Nezu Bijutsukan (Nezu Museum), Shibata Zeshin no shikko, urushi-e, kaiga (Shibata Zeshin: From Lacquer Arts to Paintings), exhibition catalogue, Tokyo: Nezu Bijutsukan, p.43, no.43.

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