![AN IMPORTANT SHODANA [CABINET] BY ISHIKAWA KOMEI (1852-1913), YASUI HOCHU (1857-1922) AND OTHERS, PROBABLY EXHIBITED IN 1890](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2002/CKS/2002_CKS_06589_0177_000(044012).jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Yasui Hochu began to study lacquer in 1868, switching from his first teacher to Uematsu Homin after only two months. He became an independent artist in 1878, working for the Seikosha and Kiryu Kosho Kaisha companies, and in 1920 taking part in the the decoration of the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo. In addition to the 1890 piece discussed below, he is known to have made shodana in 1907 and 1914.1
Ishikawa Komei, with Asahi Gyokuzan and Shimamura Shunmei one of the three best-known carvers of the Meiji period (1868-1912), helped to found sculpture societies in 1881 and 1886 and was a frequent participant in domestic and international exhibitions.2 The only collaborative work involving both Komei and Hochu recorded in the official catalogues of the Naikoku hakurankai [National Industrial Expositions] is a 'hardwood shodana with ivory inlay' shown at the third such exhibition in 1890, part of a set submitted by the dealer Hayashi Kuhei and including other works in which Hochu had a hand. The other artists involved in the manufacture of the shodana were Kiuchi Hengo, an inlay specialist; Obori Masatoshi and Hasegawa Ryoichi, apparently metalworkers; and Kashima Ippu (1828-1900), a better-known metalworker who specialised in applying nunome overlay work to furniture.3 Although the signatures of these four do not appear on this shodana, it is reasonable to speculate that it may be the one shown in 1890, since a printed paper label on the base reads as follows, in both English and Japanese:
KUHEI HAYASHI
12, NICHOME, MUROMACHI, NIHONBASHIKU,
TOKIO
HIGH-CLASS MODERN WORKS OF ART.
This information is repeated, in English only, on another label inside the right-hand drawer recess.
1 MOA Museum of Art, Kindai Nihon no shikkogei [Japanese lacquer art of recent times] (Atami, 1983), p. 108.
2 Frederick Baekeland, Imperial Japan: The Art of the Meiji Era (1868-1912) (Ithaca, New York, 1980), p. 154.
3 Tokyo National Research Institution of Cultural Properties (ed.), Naikoku kangyo hakurankai bijutsuhin shuppin mokuroku [Catalogues of objects exhibited at the National Industrial Expositions] (Tokyo, 1996), 116, 238, 240 and 252; Osaka Municipal Art Museum, Kogeikatachi no Meiji ishin [Craftsmen and the Meiji restoration] (Osaka, 1992), cat. nos. 70 and 83.
Ishikawa Komei, with Asahi Gyokuzan and Shimamura Shunmei one of the three best-known carvers of the Meiji period (1868-1912), helped to found sculpture societies in 1881 and 1886 and was a frequent participant in domestic and international exhibitions.
KUHEI HAYASHI
12, NICHOME, MUROMACHI, NIHONBASHIKU,
TOKIO
HIGH-CLASS MODERN WORKS OF ART.
This information is repeated, in English only, on another label inside the right-hand drawer recess.
1 MOA Museum of Art, Kindai Nihon no shikkogei [Japanese lacquer art of recent times] (Atami, 1983), p. 108.
2 Frederick Baekeland, Imperial Japan: The Art of the Meiji Era (1868-1912) (Ithaca, New York, 1980), p. 154.
3 Tokyo National Research Institution of Cultural Properties (ed.), Naikoku kangyo hakurankai bijutsuhin shuppin mokuroku [Catalogues of objects exhibited at the National Industrial Expositions] (Tokyo, 1996), 116, 238, 240 and 252; Osaka Municipal Art Museum, Kogeikatachi no Meiji ishin [Craftsmen and the Meiji restoration] (Osaka, 1992), cat. nos. 70 and 83.