A LACQUER BUNKO richly decorated in takamakie and hiramakie with inlays of kanogai, kirigane, coral and chased gilt metal on a nashiji ground, the interior depicting a pine tree behind a brushwood fence beside a stream running through a hilly landscape, its banks clad with chrysanthemums, their blooms in gilt and silver takazogan, the box and cover silver-rimmed and fitted with brush-rests, slate suzuri and a circular silver suiteki decorated with karakusa tendrils on a nanako ground; the decorative theme is derived from the Hatsune chapter of the Tale of Genji, and the relevant poem appears in the design in gilt utamoji, using the pine tree as a rebus; Toshitsuke o matsu ni hikarete, 'The old one's gaze rests long on the seedling pine', unsigned, 19th Century

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN

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A LACQUER BUNKO richly decorated in takamakie and hiramakie with inlays of kanogai, kirigane, coral and chased gilt metal on a nashiji ground, the interior depicting a pine tree behind a brushwood fence beside a stream running through a hilly landscape, its banks clad with chrysanthemums, their blooms in gilt and silver takazogan, the box and cover silver-rimmed and fitted with brush-rests, slate suzuri and a circular silver suiteki decorated with karakusa tendrils on a nanako ground; the decorative theme is derived from the Hatsune chapter of the Tale of Genji, and the relevant poem appears in the design in gilt utamoji, using the pine tree as a rebus; Toshitsuke o matsu ni hikarete, 'The old one's gaze rests long on the seedling pine', unsigned, 19th Century

Lot Essay

The Genji theme and the Hatsune chapter in particular, was considered, in the Edo period, to be symbolic of a happy life, and cabinets and their companion pieces decorated in this manner, known as 'Hatsune makie-sandana', were especially suitable as a bride's dowry

The prototype appears to be the set of lacquer furniture and utensils made by Koami Nagashige (1599-1651) for the dowry of Tokugawa Iemitsu's eldest daughter, completed in 1639. The present example is faithful to the style but, as is usual in 18th Century lacquer, is slightly heavier and even more sumptuously decorated than the 17th Century versions; the artistic achievement, with its minute attention to detail, is on the highest level

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