Printed from Woolley & Wallis

Description

λ AN UNUSUAL JAPANESE WOOD TONKOTSU (TOBACCO POUCH)
MEIJI ERA, 19TH/20TH CENTURY

Carved to imitate a fabric pouch, the front decorated with a skull discarded amongst tall autumn leaves, a poem to the side and large chrysanthemum above and to the reverse; attached to a chain with wooden links, and to a chestnut-shaped netsuke with a small worm poking out on the side; together with a netsuke shaped as a woven basket, a small fish painted in lacquer to the top, the tonkotsu 11.5cm and the netsuke 4.1cm. (2)

With an ivory registration number.

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.