A JAPANESE GOLD AND BLACK LACQUER FOUR-CASE INRO

A JAPANESE GOLD AND BLACK LACQUER FOUR-CASE INRO

EDO PERIOD, 18TH OR 19TH CENTURY

Decorated with a continuous scene of an ascetic seated underneath a tree, the emaciated man wrapped in long robes and observing a fishing rod before him; the reverse with a young man carrying a bundle of sticks on his back and walking whilst reading an open book, the decoration rendered in gold, silver and red takamaki-e, hiramaki-e and nashiji lacquer on the black roiro ground, the base with a four-character signature reading Kanshosai saku for Kanshosai Toyo, attached to a coral bead, the inro 7.5cm.

Provenance: an American private collection, purchased 1990s-2010s.

Cf. G Lazarnick, Netsuke & Inro Artists, and How to read their signatures, vol.II, pp.1184-88 for other examples of inro by Kanshosai Toyo. The artist explains that Toyo was employed by Lord Hachisuka, the daimyo of Awa Province, who made him a samurai in recognition of his talent. Several generations of lacquer artists after him used his name and signature.