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A MAGNIFICENT WEDDING SET OF SUZURIBAKO [BOX FOR WRITING-UTENSILS] AND RYOSHIBAKO [BOX FOR WRITING PAPER]

UNSIGNED, EDO/MEIJI PERIODS (19TH CENTURY)

細節

A MAGNIFICENT WEDDING SET OF SUZURIBAKO [BOX FOR WRITING-UTENSILS] AND RYOSHIBAKO [BOX FOR WRITING PAPER]
Unsigned, Edo/Meiji Periods (19th Century)
Nashiji grounds; decoration in gold and silver hiramaki-e and gold, silver and red takamaki-e and togidashi-e with gold foil, inlaid silver and gilt metal; rims silver

Both boxes richly decorated with motifs alluding to Chapter 23, Hatsune [The First Warbler], of the eleventh-century novel Genji monogatari [The Tale of Genji]: Prince Genji's Rokujo mansion with gifts in higeko [woven baskets with the ends untrimmed] sent to the Akashi princess by her mother, the Akashi lady (see below); two uguisu [bush warbler] birds in gilt metal (a real one in a pine tree and another artificial one attached to a sprig of pine); removable implement tray with two brushes, an ink-stick holder, a paper-pricker and a paper-knife in matching nashiji cases with silver mounts; rectangular ink-stone lacquered on the base in nashiji and on the sides in gold lacquer; silver, gilt metal, shakudo and shibuichi suiteki [water- dropper] in the form of a bugaku [court dance] head-dress and instruments
Suzuribako 17/8 x 101/8 x 113/8in. (4.7 x 25.8 x 29.0cm.)
Ryoshibako 7 x 14¼ x 18in. (18.0 x 36.3 x 45.6cm.)

注意事項

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.

拍品專文

The first detailed depiction in lacquer of the opening pages of the Hatsune chapter is seen on the Hatsune no chodo [First Warbler furniture], a set of wedding gifts created in the late 1630s for the wedding of the two and a half year-old daughter of the third shogun. On the Hatsune no chodo, most of the syllables or characters of an important poem from the chapter are included in the design.1,2 This feature is copied on the present boxes and the poem is set out as follows:

Toshitsuki wo matsu ni My old eyes are caught
hikarete by pines reminding me
furuhito ni of passing months and years -
kyo uguisu no I hope today I'll hear the song
hatsune kikase yo3 of spring's first warbler.

All the words of the poem are given with the exception of matsu [pine] and uguisu [bush warbler] which are conveyed in pictures rather than writing.

1 Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji (trans. Edward G. Seidensticker; London, 1976), 409-11.

2 Tokugawa Art Museum, Hatsune no chodo [Hatsune maki-e lacquer furnishings] (Nagoya, 1985).

3 Abe Akio (ed.), Genji monogatari 3 [The tale of Genji, part 3], Nihon koten bungaku zenshu 14 (Tokyo, 1972), 140.