Unsigned
Japan, 18^th century, Edo period (1615-1868)

The first, a three-case inro with a roiro ground, decorated with gold hiramaki-e and iro-e takamaki-e depicting wild animals on the outskirts of a village with flowers burdened with large blossoms next to foliage and rockwork. The interior with a fine nashiji ground and gold fundame edges.

The second consists of a four-case wood inro carved in high relief with a finely detailed shippo ground with a beauty seated next to rockwork holding a kiku (chrysanthemum), the reverse decorated with a large kiku plant bearing large blossoms. The cord with a coral ojime.

HEIGHT 6.8 cm (the first) and 6.1 cm (the second), LENGTH 5.8 cm and 4.9 cm

Condition: The first in fair condition with wear, extensive rubbing, small nicks, cracks, and losses. The second with extensive wear, age cracks, and losses with associated repairs.
Provenance: Galerie Duval, Brussels, 30 December 1948. Galerie Douat, Brussels, 5 April 1946. Collection of Robert and Isabelle de Strycker, acquired from the above. Old label to the interior, ‘L, 506’ and ‘L, 616.’ Robert de Strycker (1903-1968) was a French engineer who specialized in metallurgy. He was a Stanford graduate, a professor at the University of Leuven, a director of the Institute of Metallurgy at the Université Catholique de Louvain, and one of the most influential members of the faculty of applied sciences. After World War II, he made large contributions to France’s post-war recovery. Robert and his wife Isabelle (1915-2010) first encountered Chinese art at the British Museum during a stay in London in the 1930s. Enamored with the style and beauty, they both decided to study and collect Japanese and Chinese works of art. In 1938 they eventually began to build their collection, buying from Belgian, Parisian, and English dealers. They kept close contact with the famous English collector Sir Harry Garner (1891-1977) and noted Czech collector and expert Fritz Low-Beer (1906-1976). In 1964, the couple lent 174 objects from their collection to the Belgian city of Leuven’s museum for an exhibition titled Oude kunst in Leuvens Privébezit (‘Old Art in Private Collections in Leuven’), and in 1967 they lent around thirty Japanese objects to the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels for their exhibition Kunst van Japan im belgischen Privatverzameingen (‘Japanese Art in Belgian Private Collections’).