A TWO-CASE INRO

SIGNED KOMA KANSAI (EDO), EDO PERIOD (MID-19TH CENTURY)

Details

A TWO-CASE INRO
Signed Koma Kansai (Edo), Edo Period (Mid-19th Century)
Of exceptionally large size and circular form; black lacquer ground; decoration in gold, silver and coloured hiramaki-e, takamaki-e and togidashi-e embellished with shell and e-nashiji; compartments Gyobu-nashiji; risers with black lacquer ground and decoration in gold and silver togidashi-e; shoulders and rims gold lacquer; underside signed in gold hiramaki-e Koma Kansai with a kao [cursive monogram]; ojime agate; two-part netsuke lacquer in the form of a No-mask and its brocade bag, the back of the mask signed in gold hiramaki-e Kansai

Exterior with thirty-four of the Forty-Seven Ronin, their names inscribed on the lapels of their jackets, surrounding two circular cartouches (one on each side) depicting the remaining thirteen Ronin carrying out their famous night attack on the residence of Kira Kozuke no suke Yoshinaka, who had engineered the suicide of their lord, Asano Takumi no kami Naganori; on one side seven of the Ronin are shown about to break down the doors of the residence while on the other side another six Ronin capture Lord Kira and prepare to strike off his head; risers with a variety of weapons and other military accoutrements together with the kiri [paulownia] mon, the futatsudomoe [two-comma] mon and the takanoha [hawks' feathers] mon of the Asano family
4in. (10.2cm.) long

Provenance

Lt. Col. J. B. Gaskell Collection
Victor Rienaecker Collection
Demaree and Dorothy Bess Collection
Charles A. Greenfield Collection

Literature

Eskenazi Limited, The Charles A. Greenfield Collection of Japanese Lacquer (London, 1990), cat. no. 97
Glendining and Co. auction catalogue of the Lt.-Col. J.B. Gaskell Collection (London, 1919), no. 1327
Andrew J. Pekarik, Japanese Lacquer, 1600-1900: Selections from the Charles A. Greenfield Collection (New York, 1980), cat. no. 97, fig. 110
Harold P. Stern, The Magnificent Three: Lacquer, Netsuke and Tsuba (New York, 1972), no. 147 (inro)

Exhibited

New York, 1972, Japan House Gallery
New York, 1980, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Lot Essay

This most celebrated and politically significant of Edo-period tales was immortalised in the ever popular kabuki play Kanadehon Chushingura (first produced in 1748) which places the events of the early 18th century in the medieval period. The designs on this inro are apparently based on the work of Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) who produced a very large number of prints depicting scenes from the story in the middle years of the 19th century. For another circular inro with a similar design of larger figures arranged around circular cartouches showing scenes with smaller figures, see Julia Meech, Lacquerware from the Weston Collection: A Selection of Inro and Boxes (New York, 1995), cat. no. 36., depicting the death of the Buddha; another unpublished inro in the Weston collection is in the same shape.

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