A FINE JAPANESE GOLD LACQUER KOBAKO (BOX AND COVER)

A FINE JAPANESE GOLD LACQUER KOBAKO (BOX AND COVER)

MEIJI PERIOD, 19TH CENTURY

The lid shaped as a paper fan decorated with a traditional house on stilts in a luxuriant garden with prunus to the side, a small bird depicted in relief on the veranda resting on a branch of pine, the fan's sticks made of inlaid silver; the sides decorated with another view of the gardens, a stream flowing between rocks and with further flowering trees along it, with pines issuing from behind wooden fences, the decoration rendered in inlaid gilt, gold and silver hiramaki-e, takamaki-e, okibirame and togidashi mokume on gyobu nashiji and nashiji grounds, together with a fitted tomobako box and cover, and a Spink catalogue entitled Japanese Lacquer, 21.4cm x 12.3cm x 6.7cm. (5)

Provenance: a private English collection, purchased from Spink in July 1997. A copy of a letter from Christopher Knapton, Director of Spink Oriental Department, informing the owner that the piece is ready to be collected, is available.

Cf. Spink, Japanese Lacquer, Miyabi transformed, p.27, no.17 where this very piece is illustrated and discussed.

The decoration is a reference to The Tale of Genji and it shows the Prince's Rokujo mansion as described in the 23rd Chapter of the Genji Monogatari entitled Hatsune (The First Warbler).