A FINE LACQUER PANEL DEPICTING LOBSTERS SIGNED GYOEN HACHIJUNI O KOMA ZESHIN [AN OLD MAN IN HIS 82ND YEAR, KOMA ZESHIN], MEIJI PERIOD, 1888

the framed wood panel decorated in gold, silver and red in various lacquer techniques including sabiage, hiramaki-e, togidashi-e and takamaki-e on a black lacquer ground with a pair of Ise Ebi (spiny lobsters) on a rocky outcrop beneath waves breaking, with tomobako inscribed Meiji niju san nen, Dai san kai Naikoku Kangyo Hakurankai, Myogi ltto sho jusho, Danshaku Iwasaki Yanosuke kyuzo, Shibata Zeshin Meihinshu shozai (First prize for exquisite skills award in the third Domestic Industrial Exposition, 1890, former collection of Lord Iwasaki Yanosuke, published in Shibata Zeshin Meihinshu)
96 x 105.6 cm., 37 5/8 x 41 1/2 in.