A SOMADA STYLE FOUR-CASE LACQUER INRO WITH AUTUMN GRASSES, AFTER A DESIGN BY KANO TSUNENOBU (1636-1713)

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

Of upright rectangular shape, bearing a lustrous roiro ground, beautifully decorated with gold and brown takamaki-e and hiramaki-e. The Somada-style design depicts crickets and butterflies among autumn grasses, finely inlaid with aogai and heidatsu. The top and bottom, as well as the risers, are adorned with a delicate hanabishi design. The interior cases are finished in nashiji, with gold fundame rims. Signed to the second case from the top Tsunenobu with a square seal, indicating that the design was made after a painting by Kano Tsunenobu (1636-1713).

With a black and white glass ojime.

LENGTH 5.7 cm, HEIGHT 9 cm

Condition: With typical losses to the inlays. Otherwise, overall good condition with age-related wear, some losses to the lacquered ground along the edges and other typical traces of use.
Provenance: Ex-collection Maurice Feuillet (1873-1968). Beaussant Lefevre, Art d’Asie, 10 April 2015, Paris, lot 229. French private collection, acquired from the above.

This inro is decorated in the style of shell inlay associated with the Somada, a family of lacquer artists traditionally said to have been founded by Somada Kiyosuke in the early eighteenth century. Kiyosuke is supposed to have learned the technique in Nagasaki, Edo-period Japan's window onto contemporary China, where shell inlay was one of the principal methods of lacquer decoration. Somada ware is characterized by intricate inlay of iridescent shell with tiny pieces of gold and silver foil laid flush with the ground which is usually black lacquer. The Somada family of lacquerers was employed for a time by the Maeda family, daimyo of Toyama in Etchu.

Kano Tsunenobu (1636–1713) was a Japanese painter of the Kano school. He first studied under his father, Kano Naonobu, and then his uncle, Kano Tan'yu, after his father's death. He became a master painter and succeeded his uncle Tan'yu as head of the Kano school in 1674. It is believed many works attributed to Tan'yu might actually be by Tsunenobu, but it is difficult to know since they often worked on larger pieces together.

Auction comparison:
Compare a related Somada-style four-case inro with plants and butterflies, dated to the late 18^th – 19^th century, at Bonhams, The Joseph and Elena Kurstin Collection of Inro, 21 March 2024, New York, lot 934 (sold for USD 1,664).