7 - A FINE FOUR-CASE LACQUER ‘HAWK AND KARAMONO’ INRO

A FINE FOUR-CASE LACQUER ‘HAWK AND KARAMONO’ INRO Unsigned Japan, 18th century, Edo period (1615-1868) Of upright rectangular form with oval section, bearing a lustrous roiro ground, finely decorated in gold, silver, and brown takamaki-e, red hiramaki-e, kirigane, and black lacquer details. One side depicts a tethered hawk with wings dramatically spread, perched on an elaborately decorated stand supported on the back of a recumbent karashishi, with trailing red cords. The reverse depicts a Chinese deer-form joss-stick holder displayed upon an ornate low table, the stag standing on a square platform with a slender cylindrical receptacle rising from its back, its body accented with gold kirigane. The interior cases are lacquered in fine nashiji with gold fundame rims. With a carved wood ojime. HEIGHT 7.4 cm, LENGTH 5.4 cm Provenance: Ex-collection Robert ‘Bob’ Moore. Christie’s, The Bob Moore Collection of Japanese Art & Design, 7 November 2007, London, lot 300. From the private collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, New York, United States, acquired from the above. Alan Hartman (1930-2023) was an influential American art dealer, who took over his parents’ antique business in Manhattan and established the legendary Rare Art Gallery on Madison Avenue, with further locations in Dallas and Palm Beach. His wife Simone (née Horowitz) already served as assistant manager of the New York gallery before the couple were married in 1975, and together they built a renowned collection for over half a century and became noted art patrons, enriching the collections of important museums including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which opened the Alan and Simone Hartman Galleries in 2013, as well as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Brooklyn Museum in New York. Notably, they assembled an impressive collection of Japanese art, focusing on fine netsuke, inro, and lacquer. Condition: Good condition with expected wear, including a few light scratches, a small loss to the lacquer of the hawk’s plumage, small chips to the lacquer at the top and bottom sections, a few minor bruises to the top, and slight rubbing to the edges of the cases consistent with age and handling. The decoration ingeniously combines two distinct aspects of elite Edo-period taste. The tethered hawk evokes takagari (falconry), a pursuit closely associated with the shogun, daimyo, and samurai class, while the karashishi support and the Chinese deer-form joss-stick holder displayed on a low table reflect the Japanese fascination with karamono, precious Chinese and Chinese-inspired objects. The juxtaposition of martial imagery with Chinese decorative taste gives the design its unusual and sophisticated character. Auction comparison: Compare a closely related four-case lacquer inro of similar design, by the Kajikawa family, 8.5 cm high, at Bonhams, The Edward Wrangham Collection of Japanese Art, 9 November 2010, Part I, London, lot 244 (sold for GBP 4,200 or approx. EUR 7,800 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing).