A rare green lacquer five-case inro By Koma Kansai, 19th century
253*
A rare green lacquer five-case inro
The inro by Koma Kansai, 19th century, the netsuke by Masanao of Yamada, Ise, early 19th century
The ground of green powder over black, lacquered with the san sukumi (the three creeping things), snake, snail and frog, among bamboo leaves in naturalistically-coloured takamakie with gold lacquer details, the interior of nashiji and kinji, signed Koma Kansai tsukuru; with copper and brass ojime of a frog on a folded lotus leaf; and a boxwood netsuke of a snake coiled around a frog, squeezing the life out of the amphibian, their eye pupils inlaid, signed Masanao.
9.8cm (3 7/8in).
Sold for £55,250 inc. premium

Footnotes

  • 三竦み図蒔絵印籠　銘「古満寛哉造」　19世紀

    Provenance: Heber R. Bishop collection, sold at the American Art Association, Anderson Galleries, New York, 21st January 1906.
    Sold at Sotheby's London, 29th May, 1980, lot 96.

    Published: Art at Auction, the Year at Sotheby Parke Bernet, 1979-1980, p.436.

    The san sukumi represents the story of 'the three creepy things': a frog, a snake and a snail, each afraid of the others. The frog would like to eat the snail and to the snake, the frog would be a delicacy. But the secretion of the snail, once eaten by the frog, would prove a fatal poison to the snake.

Category: Asian Art / Japanese Art

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