Lot description

A lacquered tonkotsu (tobacco container) and cover

By Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891), Meiji Period
The ishime ground decorated in gold, tan-urushi, keuchi and silver takamakie, hiramakie, kakiwari and sabi-nuri with a gardener’s thatched hut with a bamboo blind hanging at the door partially obscuring the interior, where bonsai plants in pots are set on shelves, a pair of potted miniature trees stand to one side of the hut, whilst in the foreground a leaning shelter houses young plants, the reverse with hanging branches of yanagi (willow), signed on the base with lightly-incised characters Zeshin; the cover of mulberry wood; with en-suite lacquer hako-netsuke decorated in silver hiramakie with an egret in the driving rain, the reverse with a leaf drifting between pebbles, rendered in ishimei-ji, imitating stone, signed Zeshin; with wood storage box. 4.9cm x 6.7cm (1 7/8in x 2 5/8in).

Footnotes

温室盆栽図蒔絵とんこつ　柴田是真作　明治時代

The gently-rounded shape of this tonkotsu and superb execution of the lacquer is synonymous with Zeshin’s craftmanship. A tobacco container with an identical design by the artist, and which may well be the piece offered here, is reproduced in volume 11 of a series of e-hon titled Shikki zuroku (Illustrated Inventory of Lacquer Works), published for members of the Japanese Lacquer Master Association (Nihon shikkokai) from 1891-1914. In these books, well-known lacquer Masters present almost two hundred objects which they especially admire, whilst at the same time providing detailed descriptions (or instructions) of materials and techniques used in the original.

The onshitsu bonsai design was a popular motif for Zeshin and he re-used it to adorn a number of different media from trays, boxes to sagemono as is presented here. A similar treatment of this design can be seen in a lacquer panel by the artist preserved in the collection of the Imperial Household Agency, Sannomaru Shozokan, published and illustrated in the Exhibition Catalogue, The Art of Shibata Zeshin Featuring the Edson Collection, curated by Yasumura Toshinobu (Director, Itabashi Art Museum), Nikkei Inc., 2009, p.118, pl.J-12.

Quoted from the lot page, © Bonhams. Bonhams, Fine Japanese Art, 2011-05-12, lot 101 ↗

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: “…The ishime ground decorated in gold, tan-urushi , keuchi and silver takamakie , hiramakie , kakiwari and sabi-nuri with a gardener's thatched hut with…”²

Where the price sits

At £96,000 (about US$156,144 at the sale-date rate), this lot ranks 22 of the 126 results in our database by US-dollar value, and 4 of 6 in lacquer, where the median is about US$176,202. Among the 6 results for this maker it ranks 4.²

Comparable records

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

• 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, Two-case inrō with Hotei and metalwork tools: £120,000 (≈ US$196,260), Bonhams, 2011-05-10, lot 239.
• Shibata Zeshin, Shikishi-ban urushi-e: flower vase with flowering quince: £26,250 (≈ US$41,884), Bonhams, 2011-11-10, lot 251.