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Lot 1144

DUNHILL-NAMIKI: Snowy Egret & Willow Maki-e Desk Set, Signed by Shusei, 1930s

16 June 2015, 10:00 PDT
San Francisco

US$8,000 - US$12,000

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DUNHILL-NAMIKI: Snowy Egret & Willow Maki-e Desk Set, Signed by Shusei, 1930s

Elegant desk set measuring approx. 195mm wide at the base, with swiveling tulip-form pen holder, gold-plated trim, both base and holder decorated with an egret, base additionally decorated with a willow tree and foliage in takamaki-e with raden eyes and kanshitsu (volcano surface) technique on the bough. The base is signed by Shusei, real name Yoshida Saburu, born 1901, studied in Kanazawa under Ota Kikutaro from 1914 to 1920. With calligraphy pen, plain black urushi lacquer, lever-filler, 14K gold No. 2 Pilot nib. The pen and base are a marriage; as Hutt and Overbury note in Namiki: The Art of Japanese Lacquer Pens, "Customers had the choice of purchasing pens separately, which explains why the different components of a desk set may include different motifs and may be signed by different artists." Shusei's work is not recorded in Overbury, Larquemin, Canton or Murakami's books on Namiki pens, indicating that few of his creations have survived.

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