SIGNED SHINSAI, KANSAI, SHIN ICHI, RYOZAN AND MASATSUGU, MEIJI PERIOD (LATE 19TH CENTURY)

Details

An Elaborate Shibayama Cabinet
Signed Shinsai, Kansai, Shin ichi, Ryozan and Masatsugu, Meiji Period (Late 19th Century)
Of typical Shibayama form with vertical sides and parallel curved top and base, the front with two larger doors at the top opening to reveal five drawers of varying shapes and sizes arranged around a removable panel, two smaller doors and two drawers, the framework, top, sides and interior of gold nashiji lacquer, the doors and external drawers of gold kinji lacquer, the exterior variously decorated in rich encrustation of shell, ivory, tortoiseshell, lacquer, horn and other materials, the front with cockerels, chickens, chrysanthemums and other flowers, the sides each with two tsuba [sword guards], the top with an inro [medicine case] and a natsume [tea caddy], the reverse with a large tripod filled with an arrangement of lotus plants, a hi-ire [ash container], a stand with incense implements, a priest's hossu [ritual whisk] and two butterflies, the internal drawer-fronts with geometric and floral ornament in gold, silver and coloured hiramaki-e and togidashi-e on a fine gold nashiji ground, the hinges, drawer-pulls and edgings of silver, variously signed on red lacquer panels imitating seals Kansai, Shin'ichi and Ryozan, the base signed Masatsugu on a gilt plaque, the reverse with a larger signature Shinsai on an ivory plaque framed in silver, old damage
7¾ x 7¼ x 3 7/8in. (19.7 x 18.5 x 9.8cm.)

Special notice

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Lot Essay

In both quality and style of decoration this miniature cabinet resembles examples in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Khalili collection, both of them signed Shinryo, using the same characters as in the Shin ichi and Ryozan on this piece. There seems to have been a degree of inventiveness on the part of Shibayama artists in coining a rich variety of similar names and it is likely that Shinryo had a hand in the manufacture of the present lot. Shinryo Ekisei or Yasumasa won a prize for a decorative panel exhibited by Ozeki Yahei in 1877 and is recorded in the trade directory Tokyo meikokan (1879), as having produced an object exhibited by Shibayama Senzo.¹

1 Oliver Impey, Malcolm Fairley and Joe Earle (eds.), The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Japanese Art (London, 1995), vol. 4, part 2, cat. no. 195; Joe Earle (ed.), The Toshiba Gallery: Japanese Art and Design [in the Victoria and Albert Museum] (London, 1986), cat. no. 190.

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