A GOOD JAPANESE SILVER AND SHAKUDO BRACELET

A GOOD JAPANESE SILVER AND SHAKUDO BRACELET

MEIJI PERIOD, 19TH CENTURY

Composed of six circular discs and two oval ones set in rub-over silver mounts, the delicate scenes depicted in silver, gold and copper on the black shakudo ground; the first and last medallions with portraits of a man and a woman, the six other discs variously depicting: a beauty holding an umbrella before a three-storey pagoda; a man playing blind man's bluff with a child under sakura; a boy and a deity surrounded by clouds; a beauty fast asleep, a bubble above her showing her and her lover; two women conversing under prunus flowers, and a mother carrying a boy on her back whilst a small girl shows him a pinwheel; a small punch mark to the back of the clasp, together with the original box containing a paper lining stamped with a red shop mark with crane and calligraphy, the lid inscribed in ink 'Brought from China or Japan M.J.Henderson', 20.7cm. (3)

Provenance: from the collection of Hugh Fergie Hall Esq.(1832-1923) and thence by descent. Probably purchased for his second wife Mrs Mary Jane Hall (née Henderson, born circa 1840).