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A TWO-TIERED GOLD-LACQUER SUZURIBAKO (BOX FOR WRITING UTENSILS) Edo period (1615-1868) or Meiji era (1868-1912), 19th century image 1
A TWO-TIERED GOLD-LACQUER SUZURIBAKO (BOX FOR WRITING UTENSILS) Edo period (1615-1868) or Meiji era (1868-1912), 19th century image 2
Lot 79

A TWO-TIERED GOLD-LACQUER SUZURIBAKO (BOX FOR WRITING UTENSILS)
Edo period (1615-1868) or Meiji era (1868-1912), 19th century

Amended
14 December 2023, 17:00 EST
New York

Sold for US$5,376 inc. premium

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A TWO-TIERED GOLD-LACQUER SUZURIBAKO (BOX FOR WRITING UTENSILS)

Edo period (1615-1868) or Meiji era (1868-1912), 19th century
In the form of a koto, the exterior of the kabusebuta (overhanging lid) decorated in gold, aokin, silver, and colored hiramaki-e, takamaki-e, and togidashi maki-e mimicking many of the features of a real koto including the grain of the kiri (paulownia) wood body, the 13 gen or ito (strings) each with a kotoji or hashira (bridge), the ryūgaku and kashiwagata panels at, respectively, the wider and narrower ends, the panels with bird-and-flower designs, the interior of the lid decorated in gold hiramaki-e and takamaki-e with embellishments of okibirame gold-foil mosaic against a polished black roiro ground sprinkled with gold hirame and mura-nashiji flakes, the interior of the box fitted with an ita (baseboard) with the same finish enclosing a suzuri (ink-grinding-stone) and a copper alloy and silver suiteki (water dropper) in the form of two kotoji, the rims silver, unsigned; with a wood storage box inscribed Kotogata maki-e suzuribako (Maki-e suzuribako in the form of a koto)
9 7/8 × 4 3/8 × 2 3/8in (25.2 × 11.2 × 6cm)

Footnotes

For similar examples of this popular form of suzuribako, see Martha Boyer, Catalogue of Japanese Lacquers [in the Walters Art Gallery], Baltimore, 1970, cat. nos.198 (pl.66) and 322 (pl.137); Tadaomi Gōke and others Meiji no Takara: Treasures of Imperial Japan, Lacquer, Part 1, London, Kibo Foundation, 1995, cat. no.84; E.F. Strange, Catalogue of Japanese Lacquer [in the Victoria and Albert Museum], London, His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1924, vol.1, cat. no.10 and pl.5; and Spink and Son Limited, Japanese Lacquer: Miyabi Transformed, exhibition catalogue, London, 1997, cat. no.29.

Saleroom notices

Please note that this lot was previously sold at Christie's, New York, September 17, 1997, lot 181.

Additional information

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