23rd Jan, 2025 11:00

Four-Day Auction: Asian Art Discoveries

 
  Lot 107
 

107

A SUPERB GOLD LACQUER MINIATURE KODANSU (SMALL INCENSE CABINET) DEPICTING BIRDS AND FLOWERS

Sold for €3,120

including Buyer's Premium


Lot details

Japan, late 19th century, Meiji period (1868-1912)

Of rectangular form, the small incense cabinet with a single door applied with shakudo hinges and a functional lock mechanism opening to three drawers with loop-handles suspended by prunus blossom fittings. Finely worked in gold and silver takamaki-e and hiramaki-e with kirigane and hirame, the exterior with kinji-ground panels depicting birds and flowers including sparrows and plum and a pheasant amid bamboo as well as an eight-fold bridge with blossoming iris, the edges of gold fundame. The interior of the door with a kiri-and-phoenix roundel against a nashiji ground, and the drawers with cherry blossoms and a meandering stream.

SIZE 12.7 x 7.6 x 8.7 cm

Condition: Very good condition with wear, especially to edges, some light warping to the gold leaf inlays to the top, one section of gold leaf with an old repair. Overall presenting beautifully. The key lost.
Provenance: Christie’s, Japanese Works of Art, 17 September 1997, New York, lot 178. The private collection of Maybelle Dore, acquired from the above. Maybelle (Betty) Dore started collecting Japanese antiques in the postwar years, during the 1950s and 1960s, when interest in Japanese art was generally very low. For her business she ventured to Japan on her own to assemble netsuke and related works of art, including pipe cases and kogo (incense containers). Betty was also a founding member and the first Chairman of the International Netsuke Society, Northern California Chapter.

Auction comparison:
Compare a closely related gold lacquer kodansu, late 19th century, also depicting birds and flowers, at Sotheby’s, Fine Japanese Art, 5 November 2019, London, lot 60 (sold for GBP 22,500).

 

Japan, late 19th century, Meiji period (1868-1912)

Of rectangular form, the small incense cabinet with a single door applied with shakudo hinges and a functional lock mechanism opening to three drawers with loop-handles suspended by prunus blossom fittings. Finely worked in gold and silver takamaki-e and hiramaki-e with kirigane and hirame, the exterior with kinji-ground panels depicting birds and flowers including sparrows and plum and a pheasant amid bamboo as well as an eight-fold bridge with blossoming iris, the edges of gold fundame. The interior of the door with a kiri-and-phoenix roundel against a nashiji ground, and the drawers with cherry blossoms and a meandering stream.

SIZE 12.7 x 7.6 x 8.7 cm

Condition: Very good condition with wear, especially to edges, some light warping to the gold leaf inlays to the top, one section of gold leaf with an old repair. Overall presenting beautifully. The key lost.
Provenance: Christie’s, Japanese Works of Art, 17 September 1997, New York, lot 178. The private collection of Maybelle Dore, acquired from the above. Maybelle (Betty) Dore started collecting Japanese antiques in the postwar years, during the 1950s and 1960s, when interest in Japanese art was generally very low. For her business she ventured to Japan on her own to assemble netsuke and related works of art, including pipe cases and kogo (incense containers). Betty was also a founding member and the first Chairman of the International Netsuke Society, Northern California Chapter.

Auction comparison:
Compare a closely related gold lacquer kodansu, late 19th century, also depicting birds and flowers, at Sotheby’s, Fine Japanese Art, 5 November 2019, London, lot 60 (sold for GBP 22,500).

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