(20TH CENTURY), [UEMATSU HOBI (1872-1933)]

Details

A Lacquer Box
(20th century), [Uematsu Hobi (1872-1933)]
Of rectangular shape with recessed, rounded edges decorated in low-relief takamaki-e with blossoming chrysanthemums and the characters of a poem, tsuyu no ma ni, which are inlaid in silver, the background roiro-nuri and the recessed edges sprinkled with gold powder, portions of the blossoms and leaves repeated on the sides of the box and the interior nashiji, rims silver, the base roiro and nashiji; in wood tomobako signed Furosai Shujin kore o (made by Furosai Shujin) and inscribed with a poem.
9 3/8 x 8 1/4 x 2in. (24 x 20.8 x 5.2cm.)

Provenance

Wakamiya Collection

Special notice

Christie's generally offers property consigned by others for sale at public auction. From time to time, lots are offered which Christie's or an affiliate company owns in whole or part. Each lot of such property is offered subject to a reserve. This is such a lot.

Lot Essay

The design is a classic example of a poem-picture (uta-e). Chrysanthemums and the words "tsuyu no ma ni (drenched by chrysanthemum dew)" appear on the lid, an allusion to a poem by Monk Sosei from the tenth-century Kokinshu:

Nurete hosu
yamaji no kiku no
tsuyu no ma ni
itsuka chitose o
ware wa henikemu

Did an age slip by
during those fleeting moments
when I dried my sleeves
drenched by chrysanthemum dew
on the path through the mountains?¹

1. Kokin Wakashu: The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry, trans. Helen Craig McCullough (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1985), no. 273, p. 68.

More from JAPANESE AND KOREAN ART

View All