Japanese 'double gourd' lacquer suzuri’bako (writing box) by Hara Yôyûsai 原羊遊斎

Superb rectangular ‘Rinpa School’-style black lacquer suzuri’bako (writing box) with a slightly arched well-fitted overhanging cover with rounded corners. The lid with a design of a gosho’guruma (ox-drawn carriage for Heian-era nobles) featuring golden hiramaki-e (low-relief lacquer design) and takamaki-e (high-relief lacquer design), inlays of lead and shiny mother-of-pearl (raden). The design continues along the sides. The reverse of the lid decorated with two large curving pine trees (matsu) executed in the same way, but also with intricate dots of tiny pieces of inlaid blue mother-of-pearl along the golden trunk. The interior shaped to hold various scholar’s accessories, including a partially gold lacquered inkstone (suzuri) and a bronze waterdropper (suiteki) shaped like a mythical minogame. The interior inscribed ‘Hokkyô Kôrin zô’ (Made by Hokkyô Kôrin). Referring to the design being in style of the master Ogata Kôrin, but the actual lacquer artist is unknown. It is a homage to Kôrin by an artist that followed the school of Rinpa. Including black lacquer wooden tomobako (tomobako). The Rinpa School was a key part of the Edo period revival of indigenous Japanese artistic interests described by the term yamato-e. Paintings, textiles, ceramics, and lacquerwares were decorated by Rinpa artists with vibrant colours applied in a highly decorative and patterned manner. Favoured themes, which often contained evocative references to nature and the seasons, were drawn from Japanese literature, notably The Tale of Genji, The Tales of Ise...

A small Japanese black and gold lacquer suzuribako (writing box) with cartwheels in water, by the artist Hattori Toshio (1943). Of rectangular form with rounded corners, bearing a lustrous rôiro ground throughout, the exterior sides of the box and exterior of the cover finely decorated in gold and little silver takamaki-e with cartwheels flowing in a dynamically executed body of water with many swirls and gushes as well as scattered dew drops, the interior tray fitted with a rectangular ink stone and silver suiteki (waterdropper). The underside signed ‘Toshi’. With the original wooden tomobako with hakogaki reading Namikuruma makie suzuribako (The writing box set, with a design of wheels in water), as well as a leaflet written in Japanese with the artist’s biography up to 1987. Hattori Toshio (b. 1943), art name Hattori Shunsho, was first selected for the Nitten exhibition in Showa 38 (1963). Since then, he has exhibited more than twenty times at the Nitten and other exhibitions, winning numerous prestigious awards. In 1995, he had an audience with Pope John Paul II and presented the Pope with a lacquer reading table. In 2004, he created the shelves for the guest room of the Kyoto State Guest House of the Government of Japan. He is a member of the Kyoto Crafts Artists Association, the Kyoto Lacquer...

An exceptional, oblong lacquer 3-tiered storage box with cover, reminiscent of a bento box, by Hiroshi Hayashi (1967). Covered in shiny gold and black l...

Elegant lacquered tiered jûbako (picnic box) comprising five stackable tiers, two covers, and a raised tray. Each bearing an attractive deep chestnut brown ground and lacquered in ta...

A stunning Japanese Edo period lacquer tanzakubako, box for poem cards, late 18th-early 19th century, Edo Period, Japan. Attributed to the Igarashi School, this box is masterfully ...

Black and gold lacquer sageju-bako (picnic box) decorated with floral motifs in hiramaki-e. It includes a sake bottle, a four-compartment box with nashi-ji lacquer inside, a simple tray and a hollow tray. At the top, there is a bronze handle for transport. The sageju-bako is divided into four superimposed boxes for food on the left; a simple tray, a sake bottle and a hollow tray on the right. They are in the shape of a plum blossom. On the top, on both sides a phoenix. The phoenix (hôo) has an imperial and solar symbolism. This auspicious bird also embodies virtues taken from the teachings of Confucius (such as goodness, righteousness and wisdom). The left boxes are patterned with turtles, plum tree, bamboo, cherry blossoms, water plantains near rivers. The two trays on the right have a shell and seaweed pattern. The sake bottle is decorated with a plum tree and bamboo. On the sides, calabash decoration. Borders in saya (or sayagata) pattern, composed of Chinese swastikas...

Kyoto, circa 1680 The writing box has bevelled edges and a kabusebuta (overhanging lid), and is completely covered in black lacquer in maki-e and decorated in gold, silver and red h...

With intricate construction and exquisite decoration, this fine tabletop writing set is a masterpiece of Japanese lacquerware. The matching set includes a writing table (bundai) and poem box (tanzaku bako), both decorated with gilt lacquer in the style of takamaki-e and hiramaki-e urushi lacquer. Framed by everted ends, the lacquered table top is masterfully worked, depicting a robed man seated on a veranda within an idyllic mountain-and-water landscape. Swirling clouds drift overhead and pine trees bend towards the sky, formed of raised lacquer (takamaki-e) and mother of pearl inlay (raden). Dark lacquer at the corners imitate metal hardware and the sculptural corner legs are decorated with raised motifs of maple leaves. The writing table includes a matching poem box (tanzaku bako), used for storing paper cards of painted calligraphy and poetry. The lid is similarly decorated in shimmering gilt lacquer with a raised design of a fine carriage beneath a pine tree, draped in cloths and shaded by bamboo blinds...