Lot 189
A finely-inlaid bronze rectangular box and cover By Shoeisai Yoshitoshi, active Meiji era (1868-1912), circa 1850s-1860s
16 May 2019, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£35,000 - £45,000
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Find your local specialistA finely-inlaid bronze rectangular box and cover
By Shoeisai Yoshitoshi, active Meiji era (1868-1912), circa 1850s-1860s
The cover worked in predominantly in high relief of gold, bronze, shibuichi and shakudo with a fantastical scene of Oto-hime entertaining Urashima Taro with food and drink on the veranda of her father Ryujin's (the Dragon God) underwater palace, her servants, the denizens of the sea, represented by their fish and octopus head-dresses in attendance in the lower foreground, other Chinese buildings inlaid in flat gold relief partially obscured by clouds rendered in gold plate in the background, the sides of the box simiarly decorated with a continuous scene depicting a flock of chidori (dotterels or plovers) flying above low tide with shells scattered on the shore including asari (Japanese littleneck clam) a hotate (scallop) and an awabi (abalone), the interior lined in silver, the rims of silver; signed on the base with chiselled characters Shoeisai Yoshitoshi tsukuru above a circular seal Yoshitoshi inlaid in flat relief of gold. 6.1cm x 12.6cm x 9cm (2 3/8in x 5in x 3½in). (2).
The cover worked in predominantly in high relief of gold, bronze, shibuichi and shakudo with a fantastical scene of Oto-hime entertaining Urashima Taro with food and drink on the veranda of her father Ryujin's (the Dragon God) underwater palace, her servants, the denizens of the sea, represented by their fish and octopus head-dresses in attendance in the lower foreground, other Chinese buildings inlaid in flat gold relief partially obscured by clouds rendered in gold plate in the background, the sides of the box simiarly decorated with a continuous scene depicting a flock of chidori (dotterels or plovers) flying above low tide with shells scattered on the shore including asari (Japanese littleneck clam) a hotate (scallop) and an awabi (abalone), the interior lined in silver, the rims of silver; signed on the base with chiselled characters Shoeisai Yoshitoshi tsukuru above a circular seal Yoshitoshi inlaid in flat relief of gold. 6.1cm x 12.6cm x 9cm (2 3/8in x 5in x 3½in). (2).
Footnotes
For further information about the artist, see Wakayama Takeshi, Kinko Jiten (A Dictionary of Metalworkers), Tokyo, Token Shunju Shinbunsha, 1999, p.1347.