A FOUR-CASE INLAID-LACQUER INRO**
edo period (18th-19th century), signed kajikawa saku and with jar seal
Inlaid in gilt-metal and shibuichi with the twelve animals of the Zodiac in twelve vignettes rendered in gold takamaki-e on a roiro ground, including the monkey in a peach tree, the snake under young pines, the dragon in frothy clouds, the rabbit leaping waves and the rat curled on a bale of rice, the interior cases nashiji; fitted with a soft-metal bead ojime and a kagamibuta ivory netsuke with metal plate inlaid with a gilded seated monkey
3in. (7.7cm.) high