1 / 11

Description

A GOLD FOUR-CASE INRO DEPICTING A CHARIOT A GOLD FOUR-CASE INRO DEPICTING A CHARIOT Unsigned Japan, 18 th century, Edo period (1615-1868) Bearing a gold and reddish-orange lacquer mokume ground framing each side, one depicting an empty chariot (jinrikisha) with a brocade cushion decorated with gold, red lacquer, and shibuichi takamaki-e and hiramaki-e. The opposite with a central basket holding young fern shoots (warabi) and a book inscribed with the words ‘Narihira Itaru’ and ‘Tokudaira Jo.’ HEIGHT 8.1 cm, LENGTH 4.8 cm Condition: Very good condition with minor wear and a minuscule chip. Provenance: Galerie Max, Brussels, 4 February 1956. Collection of Robert and Isabelle de Strycker, acquired from the above. Old label to the interior, ‘L, 588.’ Robert de Strycker (1903-1968) was a French engineer who specialized in metallurgy. He was a Stanford graduate, a professor at the University of Leuven, a director of the Institute of Metallurgy at the Université Catholique de Louvain, and one of the most influential members of the faculty of applied sciences. After World War II, he made large contributions to France’s post-war recovery. Robert and his wife Isabelle (1915-2010) first encountered Chinese art at the British Museum during a stay in London in the 1930s. Enamored with the style and beauty, they both decided to study and collect Japanese and Chinese works of art. In 1938 they eventually began to build their collection, buying from Belgian, Parisian, and English dealers. They kept close contact with the famous English collector Sir Harry Garner (1891-1977) and noted Czech collector and expert Fritz Low-Beer (1906-1976). In 1964, the couple lent 174 objects from their collection to the Belgian city of Leuven’s museum for an exhibition titled Oude kunst in Leuvens Privébezit (‘Old Art in Private Collections in Leuven’), and in 1967 they lent around thirty Japanese objects to the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels for their exhibition Kunst van Japan im belgischen Privatverzameingen (‘Japanese Art in Belgian Private Collections’). The empty jinrikisha and the young fern sprouts likely refers to a poem known as the Song of the Bowmen of Shu. Translated in Ezra Pound’s book, Cathay, in the early 19 th century the poem refers to “…picking the first fern shoots and saying: ‘When shall we get back to our country?” The poem continues saying, “There is no ease in royal affairs, we have no comfort. Our sorrow is bitter, but we would not return to our country. What flower is in blossom? Whose chariot? The General’s.”

299 
Go to lot
<
>

A GOLD FOUR-CASE INRO DEPICTING A CHARIOT A GOLD FOUR-CASE INRO DEPICTING A CHARIOT Unsigned Japan, 18 th century, Edo period (1615-1868) Bearing a gold and reddish-orange lacquer mokume ground framing each side, one depicting an empty chariot (jinrikisha) with a brocade cushion decorated with gold, red lacquer, and shibuichi takamaki-e and hiramaki-e. The opposite with a central basket holding young fern shoots (warabi) and a book inscribed with the words ‘Narihira Itaru’ and ‘Tokudaira Jo.’ HEIGHT 8.1 cm, LENGTH 4.8 cm Condition: Very good condition with minor wear and a minuscule chip. Provenance: Galerie Max, Brussels, 4 February 1956. Collection of Robert and Isabelle de Strycker, acquired from the above. Old label to the interior, ‘L, 588.’ Robert de Strycker (1903-1968) was a French engineer who specialized in metallurgy. He was a Stanford graduate, a professor at the University of Leuven, a director of the Institute of Metallurgy at the Université Catholique de Louvain, and one of the most influential members of the faculty of applied sciences. After World War II, he made large contributions to France’s post-war recovery. Robert and his wife Isabelle (1915-2010) first encountered Chinese art at the British Museum during a stay in London in the 1930s. Enamored with the style and beauty, they both decided to study and collect Japanese and Chinese works of art. In 1938 they eventually began to build their collection, buying from Belgian, Parisian, and English dealers. They kept close contact with the famous English collector Sir Harry Garner (1891-1977) and noted Czech collector and expert Fritz Low-Beer (1906-1976). In 1964, the couple lent 174 objects from their collection to the Belgian city of Leuven’s museum for an exhibition titled Oude kunst in Leuvens Privébezit (‘Old Art in Private Collections in Leuven’), and in 1967 they lent around thirty Japanese objects to the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels for their exhibition Kunst van Japan im belgischen Privatverzameingen (‘Japanese Art in Belgian Private Collections’). The empty jinrikisha and the young fern sprouts likely refers to a poem known as the Song of the Bowmen of Shu. Translated in Ezra Pound’s book, Cathay, in the early 19 th century the poem refers to “…picking the first fern shoots and saying: ‘When shall we get back to our country?” The poem continues saying, “There is no ease in royal affairs, we have no comfort. Our sorrow is bitter, but we would not return to our country. What flower is in blossom? Whose chariot? The General’s.”

Estimate 350 - 700 EUR
Starting price 350 EUR

* Not including buyer’s premium.
Please read the conditions of sale for more information.

Sale fees: 30 %
Leave bid
Register

For sale on Tuesday 03 Sep : 11:00 (CEST)
vienna, Austria
Galerie Zacke
+4315320452
Browse the catalogue Sales terms Sale info

Delivery to
Change delivery address
Delivery is not mandatory.
You may use the carrier of your choice.
The indicated price does not include the price of the lot or the auction house's fees.

You may also like

JOKASAI: A SUPERB FOUR-CASE LACQUER INRO DEPICTING SHISHI JOKASAI: A SUPERB FOUR-CASE LACQUER INRO DEPICTING SHISHI Lineage of Yamada Jokasai, signed Jokasai 常嘉齋 Japan, late 18 th to early 19 th century, Edo period (1615-1868) The four-case inro bearing a neatly polished wood ground with a heightened grain, lacquered in thick gold takamaki-e with some silver and gold leaf inlay, depicting a large shishi holding a peony in its mouith, the eyes inlaid in mother-of-pearl. The verso with a further prancing shishi, turning back and snarling at its bushy tail, its visible eye inlaid in bright-blue ceramic. The interior risers are decorated in togidashi-e, hiramaki-e, and nashiji with concentric wave designs and stylized cherry blossoms. The interior cases and rims of gold fundame. Signed underneath in gold characters JOKASAI. With a fruit nut ojime depicting a Chinese landscape and with a beautifully matching plain wood two-part manju netsuke. HEIGHT 7.3 cm, LENGTH 7 cm DIAMETER (the netsuke) 4.2 cm Condition: Minor losses to lacquer, particularly to the gold leaf inlays. The top case with a crack to the side (visible also to the interior). The riser of the bottom case lost with associated repairs. Overall presenting well. Provenance: A noted private collection, acquired at Glendining & Co Auction, assembled by the previous owner’s great-grandfather and thence by descent. With old collection labels to the interior of the top case. The Yamada Jokasai lineage lasted until the end of the Edo period. The first Yamada Jokasai lived in Tokyo in the late 17 th century and worked for the shogunate, originally at the Kajikawa school. He crafted inro and kobako alongside the famous Koami Choho, later breaking off to establish his own school in Tokyo. The ornate decoration to the interior risers, as seen on the present inro, is typical for this school.