Bonhams 1793 : A lacquer four-case inro By Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891), Meiji Period

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17 May 2012 13:00 BST London, New Bond Street
Fine Japanese Art
Back to auction 20190

A lacquer four-case inro

By Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891), Meiji Period
The dark green seidonuri ground decorated in gold and coloured takamakie with a tied net filled with fireflies suspended from a bamboo pole on the front, and one firefly crawling up the pole, the reverse depicting a broken, slatted wall of a dwelling, overgrown with a creeper, with details in aogai, keuchi and harigaki, the interior of rich gyobu-nashiji; the base signed with scratched characters Zeshin, with wood ojime in the form of a yagura-mon, and lacquer hako-netsuke lacquered in gold takamakie with chrysanthemum blossoms floating on waves, unsigned. 7.1cm (2¾in).

Sold for £49,250 inc. premium

Footnotes

蛍雪の功図蒔絵螺鈿印籠　銘「是真」　明治時代

Provenance: James Orange collection, no.160.

The design alludes to the story of Shain (Chinese: Che Yin), an impoverished but passionate student of the Jin Dynasty (4th century AD). His family was so poor that they could not even afford lamp oil, which meant that he was unable to read at night. And so, he devised a lantern made from a cloth pouch full of fireflies to illuminate his night-time studies. With the faint lights of the fireflies he was able to study diligently and eventually became a great scholar. The broken wall on the reverse further emphasises Shanin's deprived upbringing.

This was a popular motif for Zeshin and he re-used it particularly to decorate inro, for other examples of similarly-lacquered inro see Goke Tadaomi, Bakumatsu Kaikaki no Shikko Kaiga: Shibata Zeshin Meihinshu (Lacquer and Painting in the Edo and early Meiji: A Collection of Masterworks by Shibata Zeshin), Tokyo, 1981, no.86; another in the Nasser D. Khalili collection, illustrated by Joe Earle (ed.,) Meiji no Takara, Treasures of Imperial Japan, Shibata Zeshin, London, 1996, no.49 and a third example, illustrated by Sebastian Izzard in the Exhibition Catalogue, Zeshin, The Catherine and Thomas Edson Collection, San Antonio Museum of Art, 2007, no.17.