UNSIGNED, EDO PERIOD (LATE 18TH CENTURY)

Details

A SUZURIBAKO [BOX FOR WRITING-UTENSILS]
Unsigned, Edo Period (Late 18th Century)
Black lacquer ground; decoration in gold, silver and coloured takamaki- e and hiramaki-e and other techniques, with inlaid gilt metal; the interior mura-nashiji; the rims gold lacquer

The exterior and interior of the lid with ducks and a swiftly moving river beneath a maple tree on the exterior; the lower section of the box with similar designs; the larger tray with a rectangular ink-stone (gold lacquer rim) and copper water-dropper in the form of a mountain inlaid with small pieces of coloured enamel; the smaller tray with a recess for a smaller ink-stone (now missing)
1½ x 8¾ x 9½in. (4 x 22.3 x 24.1cm.)

Literature

Eskenazi Limited, The Charles A. Greenfield Collection of Japanese Lacquer (Exhibition catalogue, 20 November-7 December 1990; London, 1990), cat. no. 16.
Andrew J. Pekarik, Japanese Lacquer, 1600-1900: Selections from the Charles A. Greenfield Collection (Exhibition catalogue, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 4 September-19 October 1980; New York, 1980), cat. no. 16 and pp. 31-2.
Harold P. Stern, The Magnificent Three: Lacquer, Netsuke and Tsuba (New York, 1972), cat. no. 55.

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 lid of the box illustrates a poem about the Oi River near Kyoto. The poem, by Fujiwara Koreie (1048-84), is included in the Kin'yowakashu [A collection of golden leaves of Japanese verse], commissioned by Emperor Shirakawa (r. 1072-86). Several syllables of the poem (hahaso, kukuru, onoga) are inlaid in gilt metal on the rocks to the right, on the tree trunk and on rocks in the river.
Hahaso chiru Oak leaves are falling
iwama o kukuru in the gaps between the rocks
kamodori wa where the ducks glide through-
onoga aoba mo their own fledgling plumage too
momijinikeri1 takes on a maple-leaf hue

1 Notre Dame Women's University (ed.), Kin'yo wakashu [A collection of golden leaves of Japanese verse] (Okayama, 1966), vol. 1, p. 77 (no.249).

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