A TWO-CASE OCTAGONAL INRO lacquered to imitate a cake of old Chinese ink in brown and dark olive green, the front in raised black lacquer depicting a Chinese scholar seated in a garden hut examining a painting held by a boy attendant, on the reverse seals and seal characters, on the side an impressed seal giving a cyclical date in mid-spring in Wan Li period, unsigned, influence of Haritsu, 18th century, 7.5 cm., with a fine Zeshin hako netsuke formed as the broken end of an inkstick, with a bat and auspicious plants in raised black lacquer, and on the reverse, the first character of Ho Ro Dai, signed Zeshin, 19th century, 3 cm., and a stained ivory ojime formed as a mandarin orange (2)

THE PROPERTY OF A COLLECTOR

細節

A TWO-CASE OCTAGONAL INRO lacquered to imitate a cake of old Chinese ink in brown and dark olive green, the front in raised black lacquer depicting a Chinese scholar seated in a garden hut examining a painting held by a boy attendant, on the reverse seals and seal characters, on the side an impressed seal giving a cyclical date in mid-spring in Wan Li period, unsigned, influence of Haritsu, 18th century, 7.5 cm., with a fine Zeshin hako netsuke formed as the broken end of an inkstick, with a bat and auspicious plants in raised black lacquer, and on the reverse, the first character of Ho Ro Dai, signed Zeshin, 19th century, 3 cm., and a stained ivory ojime formed as a mandarin orange (2)

拍品專文

For a similar technique cf. Raymond Bushell, the Inro Handbook, No. 112, which shows the work of an unrecorded artist signing himself Yoshu, and describes his methods. Although formerly attributed to Zeshin, the present inro clearly pre-dates him, and forms an interesting comparison with the Zeshin netsuke.