UNSIGNED, EDO PERIOD (EARLY 17TH CENTURY)

Details

A two-case inro
Unsigned, Edo Period (Early 17th Century)
Circular with integral himotoshi, gold ground, decoration in gold hiramaki-e, nashiji and inlaid in mother of pearl with insects among grasses, the reverse with flowering plants beside a stream, compartments black lacquer, risers gold fundame, unsigned, slight inlay loss and old wear, cloisonné ojime, wood netsuke of an Oni, unsigned, 18th Century
4in. (10.2cm.)

Provenance

Charles A. Greenfield
W.L. Behrens

Literature

Henry L. Joly, W.L. Behrens Collection, part 2, Lacquer and Inro (London, 1912), pl. XLV, no. 653.
Harold P. Stern, The Magnificent Three, Lacquer, Netsuke and Tsuba, Selections from the Collection of Charles A. Greenfield, Japan House Gallery, Japan Society (New York, 1972), no. 1.

Exhibited

Japan House Gallery, Japan Society, New York, 1972.

Special notice

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

Lot Essay

Henry Joly mentions that Behrens own catalogue states 'it is evidently a very early inro, so early indeed as to provoke .......who sold it to me to afirm that it dated from the Ashikaga Dynasty. This assertion is scarsely warranted.... still I should say that it was one of the very oldest inro'.

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