28 - SHUNSHOSAI: A LARGE AND MASTERFUL FIVE-CASE GOLD LACQUER ‘EIKANDO TEMPLE BELL’ INRO

SHUNSHOSAI: A LARGE AND MASTERFUL FIVE-CASE GOLD LACQUER ‘EIKANDO TEMPLE BELL’ INRO By Shunshosai, signed Shunshosai 春松齋 with the tsubo-shaped seal Shun 春 Japan, Meiji period (1868-1912) Masterfully crafted in the form of the celebrated bonsho of Eikando (Zenrinji) Temple in Kyoto, of lenticular section and bearing a luminous kinji ground. The monumental bronze bell is exquisitely reinterpreted in gold, silver, and iro-e takamaki-e and hiramaki-e, with rows of raised nyu bosses, broad vertical and horizontal bands, and a large lotus-form striking boss (tsukiza) to each side. The panels are richly decorated with flying tennin and writhing dragons, while extensive vertical inscriptions record the bell’s dedication, patronage, clergy, and casting history. The interior compartments are finished in gold-splashed black lacquer with gold fundame rims and fitted with an additional aperture housing a finely incised silver spoon. Surmounted by a silver cord fitting in the form of a dragon, ingeniously echoing the ryuzu suspension fitting of a temple bell. The base is inscribed in gold lacquer: 洛東永観堂名鐘、春松齋寫, Rakuto Eikando meisho, Shunshosai utsusu [The Famous Bell of Eikando in Eastern Kyoto, copied by Shunshosai,’ together with the tsubo-shaped seal Shun 春] HEIGHT 11.7 cm, LENGTH 7.6 cm Provenance: From the private collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, New York, United States. 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: Excellent condition with only minimal wear. Some light tarnishing to the silver spoon. The present inro is an extraordinary lacquer interpretation of the celebrated bonsho at Eikando (Zenrinji) Temple in Kyoto, explicitly identified by the inscription to its base. Shunshosai has translated the monumental temple bell into the compact format of an inro while preserving its distinctive architectural and decorative features with exceptional precision, from the rows of nyu bosses and lotus-form tsukiza to the dragons, celestial beings, and extensive dedicatory inscriptions. The surviving bell remains one of Eikando’s celebrated treasures and continues to be sounded at the temple today. The artist Shunshosai is only rarely recorded, though the red pot seal found on the present inro suggests a connection to the Kajikawa school. Edward A. Wrangham records an artist of this name in connection with another inro in the form of a bell; see Edward A. Wrangham and Joe Earle (eds.), The Index of Inro Artists (1995), p. 265. Auction comparison: Compare a related four-case lacquer inro designed as the Dojoji bell, 13.3 cm high, at Bonhams, Fine Japanese and Korean Art, 21 March 2018, New York, lot 2135 (sold for USD 7,500 or approx. EUR 8,600 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing).