λ TWO JAPANESE LACQUER AND AOGAI (MOTHER OF PEARL INLAYS) INROS

λ TWO JAPANESE LACQUER AND AOGAI (MOTHER OF PEARL INLAYS) INROS
EDO PERIOD, 17TH/18TH CENTURY

The first a four-case inro decorated to both sides with reishi-head panels resembling a gunbai fan enclosing confronting dragons, all rendered in takamaki-e, hiramaki-e, koban and minute mother of pearl (aogai) square inlays, reserved on a ground of scrolling tendrils; the cords passed through silver rings either sides of the inro, and with monster heads above and below; attached to a wood ojime carved as a rotund shishi, a small movable wood ball in its mouth and curling around a coral bead, and with a lacquered wood netsuke modelled as an entertainer holding a drum; the other a four-case Somada School inro decorated with aogai inlays on the lustrous black roiro ground, one side with a pavilion by a cliff, a lake with sailing boats visible in the distance, and the other with a large pine tree and further rockwork; 6.9cm and 9.6cm. (2)

Provenance: from the collection of William Cleverley Alexander (1840-1916), and thence by descent.

Exhibited: The inro with dragons at Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1894, no.22.

Cf. See Eskenazi Ltd, The Charles A. Greenfield Collection of Japanese Lacquer, pp.40-41, no. 7 for a closely related inro, previously in the Raymond Bushell and Dr T. Shrine Collections.