SIGNED SHIOMI MASANARI, EDO PERIOD (19TH CENTURY)

Details

A FINE FOUR-CASE INRO
Signed Shiomi Masanari, Edo Period (19th Century)
Black lacquer ground; decoration in gold, aokin, silver and red togidashi-e and gold flakes and dust; compartments and risers gold nashiji; shoulders and rims gold lacquer; signed in red lacquer on the side with a seal Shiomi Masanari; amber ojime

The Chikurin shikken [Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove] with a boy attendant
31/8in. (8cm.) high

Literature

V-F. Weber, Koji Hoten, Dictionnaire à l'Usage des Amateurs et Collectionneurs d'Objets d'Art Japonais et Chinois (Paris, 1923), vol. 2, p. 232 (fig. 797)

Special notice

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.

Lot Essay

The Seven Sages have their origins in Three Kingdoms period (222-264) and Jin-dynasty (265-419) China. They are Genseki (in Chinese, Yuan Ji), expert at the flute and zither; Keiko (Ji Kang), drummer, painter and calligrapher; Santo (Shan Tao), patron of rising talent who could make himself invisible; Shoshu (Xiang Xiu), expert on the Daoist classics normally shown (as on the reverse of this inro) holding a scroll; Ryurei (Liu Ling), devoted to pleasure; Genkan (Yuan Xian), another musician; and Ojo (Wang Rong), lover of plums.

For a similar example of this subject, also signed Shiomi Masanari, see Eskenazi Limited, Japanese Inro and Lacquer-ware from a Private Swedish Collection (London, 1996), cat. no. 28 and for another example see Melvin and Betty Jahss, Inro and Other Miniature Forms of Japanese Lacquer Art (Rutland, Vt., and Tokyo, 1971), cat. no. 119.

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