Printed from Woolley & Wallis

Description

λ A FINE JAPANESE SHIBAYAMA INRO, OJIME AND MANJU NETSUKE
MEIJI ERA, 19TH CENTURY

The five-case lacquer inro richly decorated with inlays in aogai (mother of pearl), coral, hardstones, stained ivory and tortoiseshell on the kinji gold lacquer ground; each side with a bird in flight above chrysanthemum and other flowers, the top and bottom embellished with further flowerheads and scrolling tendrils; the ojime and netsuke decorated with similar depictions of swallows and other birds also rendered in a variety of inlaid materials, including cloisonné; the netsuke with a mother of pearl plaque reading Shibayama Soichi; the inro 9.5cm.

Provenance: the private collection of a lady and gentleman, Derbyshire. Previously in the Charles A Greenfield Collection, no.212. Acquired from Demaree and Dorothy Bess; previously in the collection of William Wilberforce Winkworth who acquired it from the Edward Gilbertson Collection, sold at Glendining and Co, 1917, no. 314.

Published:
E Gilbertson, Selections from the Descriptive Catalogue of Japanese Netsukes and Japanese Miscellanies in the Gilbertson Collection, no.4809.
Glendining and Co., London, auction catalogue of the E Gilbertson Collection, 1917, no.314.
A J Pekarik, Japanese Lacquer, 1600-1900: Selections from the Charles A. Greenfield Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, no. 102, fig. 115.
Eskenazi Ltd, The Charles A. Greenfield Collection of Japanese Lacquer, pp.230-231, no. 140.

Exhibited: Japanese Lacquer, 1600-1900: Selections from the Charles A. Greenfield Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 4th September - 9th October 1980, no. 102.

* This item is offered for sale in accordance with the Ivory Act 2018 and has been assigned a pre-1918 outstandingly high artistic, cultural or historical value exemption certificate, Ref. No. IHUOG99G