THREE JAPANESE GOLD LACQUER INRŌ WITH LANDSCAPES

THREE JAPANESE GOLD LACQUER INRŌ WITH LANDSCAPES
MEIJI ERA, 19TH/20TH CENTURY

All three with extensive watery landscapes variously rendered in gold and silver hiramaki-e, kirikane and nashiji lacquer; one a four-case inrō with minute figures by a shrine, signed Kozansai saku with a red-pot seal; the second another four-case inrō with many birds in flight over thatched buildings, possibly signed Taigyo saku with kao; the third a five-case inrō with fish traps set in a river, attached to a metal ojime and a horn manju netsuke depicting Kato Kiyomasa fighting a tiger; 9.7cm max. (3)

Provenance: from the collection of Mrs Frederica (Freda) Cook (1856-1925), and thence by descent. In 1887, Freda married Wyndham Francis Cook, the younger son of Sir Francis Cook. Sir Francis (1817-1901) was a wealthy textile magnate who notably owned the Gothic palace on Montserrate in Cintra, Portugal (previously subleased by William Beckford), where he created a Japanese garden. He was given the title of Marquess of Montserrate by the King of Portugal in 1886, and first Baronet Cook the same year.

Sir Francis was an avid art collector, amassing one of the most important private art collections of the 19th century, housed primarily at Doughty House in Richmond. His collection featured pieces by renowned artist, including Jan van Eyck's The Three Marys at the Sepulchre, Velázquez's Old Woman Cooking Eggs, Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi's Adoration of the Magi, and Rembrandt's Portrait of a Boy. In 1900, he bought a painting that would eventually sell for $450 million at auction: the famous Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci.

When her husband died in 1905, Freda was left £1,224,381 (approximately £189 million today). Her own will made the news in 1925 when the Time published an article entitled "Will as Long as a Novel": it was handwritten, included 95,940 words, 1066 pages, and still holds today the Guinness World Records title for the longest will ever written.