Lot description

A lacquer two-case inro

By Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891), Meiji Period
Of wide form, bearing a shibuichi-nuri ground and lacquered with metalwork tools, in gold, silver and black takamakie and lightly engraved with Hotei leaning on his sack, in katakiri and kebori, the interior of rogin-nuri, inscribed Shokado utsusu Somin with kao, signed Zeshin; with lacquer hako-netsuke of oval form, lacquered on the olive-green ground with a large oak acorns over which walks an ant in delicate kebori, the interior of nashiji, signed Zeshin. 4.8cm (1 7/8in).

Footnotes

布袋に金物図蒔絵印籠　銘「松花堂写　宗珉（花押）」「是真」　明治時代

Provenance: Col. Lange collection, purchased at Hotel Drouot, Paris, 1972.
Wrangham collection, no.1156.

Published: E.A. Wrangham, The Index of Inro Artists, 1995, p.346, Zeshin, right column, top centre.

The decoration on the inro is deliberately chosen by Zeshin as a tribute to the great Yokoya School chiseller Somin.

See also the footnote to lot 366.

Quoted from the lot page, © Bonhams. Bonhams, The Edward Wrangham Collection of Japanese Art part II, 2011-05-10, lot 239 ↗

Context 解説

The maker

Shibata Zeshin was born in Edo on 15 March 1807. His father and grandfather were shrine carpenters and wood carvers, and his father had also studied ukiyo-e painting under Katsukawa Shunshō. At eleven Zeshin was apprenticed to the lacquerer Koma Kansai II. He was then sent to study painting with Suzuki Nanrei of the Shijō school, from whom he received the name Zeshin.¹

From our maker page, where each fact is footnoted: Shibata Zeshin 柴田是真.

Technique

The catalogue wording points to the following techniques, each explained on our Techniques page:

• Sprinkled-picture lacquer: “…ground and lacquered with metalwork tools, in gold, silver and black takamakie and lightly engraved with Hotei leaning on his sack, in katakiri and kebori…”²

Where the price sits

At £120,000 (about US$196,260 at the sale-date rate), this lot ranks 15 of the 126 results in our database by US-dollar value, and 3 of 6 in lacquer, where the median is about US$176,202. Among the 6 results for this maker it ranks 3.²

Comparable records

Nearest in price by the same maker, from our database:

• Shibata Zeshin, Tonkotsu (tobacco container) with a gardener’s hut and bonsai: £96,000 (≈ US$156,144), Bonhams, 2011-05-12, lot 101.
• Shibata Zeshin, Small fubako (document box) with an itomari ball and pine needles: £74,400 (≈ US$120,312), Bonhams, 2010-11-09, lot 376.
• Shibata Zeshin, Shikishi-ban urushi-e: flower vase with flowering quince: £26,250 (≈ US$41,884), Bonhams, 2011-11-10, lot 251.