MUROMACHI PERIOD (PROBABLY DATED 1345 OR 1405)

Details

A Negoro Footed Washbasin
Muromachi Period (Probably Dated 1345 or 1405)
Of turned and assembled wood, with a flat base, the exterior of the slightly everted sides with two raised circumferential rings, resting on three outward-facing bracket feet, the interior, the upper and lower bands of the sides, the legs and lacquered red, the top of the rim, the raised rings and the underside lacquered black, the middle band of the sides with clear lacquer revealing the zelkova wood beneath, the underside signed in red lacquer characters Jissoin-tani Itokuin kinoto-tori no toshi [The Itokuin sub-temple in Jissoin valley, the kinoto-tori year (-probably 1405 or 1465)], with wooden storage box, slight old wear and cracks
Diam. 13 1/16in. (33.2cm.); 6¼in. (15.8cm.) high

Literature

Kawada Sadamu, Negoro-nuri [Negoro ware], Nihon no bijutsu, 120 (Tokyo: Shibundo, April 1976), no. 39.
Sakai-shi Hakubutsukan [Sakai City Museum], Shu-urushi (Negoro): Sono yo to bi: Shunki tokubetsuten [Red Lacquer: Utility and Beauty of Negoro : Spring Special Exhibition] (26 April - 25 May 1986; Sakai: 1986), cat. no. 59.

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

The Jissoin valley was within the Negoro temple complex on the west side of the Bodai pass, and that the Itokuin was one of a number of minor temples located along the valley's length; this is thus a rare example of a piece of 'Negoro' ware that can be securely associated with the Negoro temple. For a similar example, with a cyclical date given as either 1353 or 1413, see Miyeko Murase (ed.), Bridge of Dreams: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection of Japanese Art (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000), cat. no. 74.

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