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A black lacquer four-case inro By Kajikawa Bunryusai, 19th century image 1
A black lacquer four-case inro By Kajikawa Bunryusai, 19th century image 2
A black lacquer four-case inro By Kajikawa Bunryusai, 19th century image 3
Lot 238

A black lacquer four-case inro
By Kajikawa Bunryusai, 19th century

The Edward Wrangham Collection of Japanese Art: Part III
15 May 2012, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £15,000 inc. premium

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A black lacquer four-case inro

By Kajikawa Bunryusai, 19th century
Lacquered on the roiro ground with a recumbent cat with a kitten resting on its back and another at their feet playing with a butterfly among wild flowers, their eyes glowing with a fiery light in the darkness, the design continued on the reverse in gold and silver togidashi, the interior of nashiji, signed Bunryusai saku with kao. 9.2cm (3 5/8in).

Footnotes

向日葵に親子猫図蒔絵印籠　銘「文龍齋作（花押）」　19世紀

Provenance: purchased at Hotel Drouot, Paris, 1971.
Wrangham collection, no.1085.

Published: E. A. Wrangham, The Index of Inro Artists, p.31, Bunryu(sai), bottom right.

The subject matter depicted is probably a reference to an episode in which, the Chinese Emperor Ming Huang (Japanese: Genso) of the Tang dynasty, was walking at night in the palace gardens with his favourite concubine, Yang Kuei-fi (Japanese: Yokihi), when a cat jumped out from poeny bushes in pursuit of a butterfly. This act so impressed him that he immortalised the event by a poem, which later became a theme for painters.

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A RECTANGULAR MIXED-METAL INLAID BOX WITH TIGER MOTIF Japan, 20th century,
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