9th May, 2025 13:00
Fine Netsuke & Sagemono
26
† KOMA KANSAI: A SUPERB GOLD LACQUER FOUR-CASE INRO DEPICTING WATANABE NO TSUNA AND THE DEMON IBARAKI
Sold for €14,300
including Buyer's Premium
By Koma Kansai, signed Koma Kansai 古滿 寛哉 saku 作
Japan, Edo (Tokyo), 19th century, Edo period (1615-1868)
Published:
Barry Davies Oriental Art (1993) Inro: One Hundred Selected Masterpieces, no. 63.
Sydney L. Moss (2010) they are all fire and every one doth shine. The Elly Nordskog Collection of Japanese Inro, Pipecases and Netsuke, London, p. 168-171, no. 38.
Of upright form and oval section, the four-case inro bearing a lustrous kinji ground, masterfully worked in iro-e takamaki-e and hiramaki-e, to depict Ibaraki reaching over to grab Watanabe no Tsuna’s collar, partially concealed by the foggy whirlwind, the swirls of the mist-tornado sweeping straw leaves and represented in powerful bands of sumi-outlined e-nashiji to add volume to the relatively low relief maki-e composition. The reverse anticipating for the viewer the swift, violent flurry of action which is about to follow, destined to result in one arm less for the demon. The interior compartments of nashiji with gold fundame rims. With a glass ojime imitating coral.
HEIGHT 9.3 cm, LENGTH 5.9 cm
Condition: Excellent condition with only very minor wear.
Provenance: Ex-collection Elinor “Elly” Nordskog (1919-2013), with Sydney Moss Ltd., London. The interior with an old inventory label, ‘4332’.
Curiously, the demon’s cloak as it billows out reveals a delicate spider’s web design in gold maki-e. There is even an outside chance that the swirling leaves might be intended to combine with the suggestion implicit in the spider’s webbed cloak of a large lotus leaf hat that the pair represent the mitate interpretation of Jizo Bosatsu and Kannon fishing for souls, once they’ve made up. It is a common perception that spiders transform into oni after dark.
Koma is the family name of one of the most famous dynasties of lacquer artists, founded by Kyui who worked in Edo in the 17th century; members of the family continued as lacquerers to the court and shogunate until well into the 19th century. Probably all the family lacquered inro among other objects, starting with Kyui I who was recorded as having lacquered inro for the Shogun Iemitsu.
Literature comparison:
Compare a related inro with a similar design of Watanabe no Tsuna and the Rashomon demon, which must share a common source, in Weber, Victor Frédéric (1975) Ko-ji ho-ten: Dictionnaire à l'usage des Amateurs et Collectionneurs d'Objets d'Art japonais et chinois, Vol. II, pl. LXVII (opposite p. 448).
By Koma Kansai, signed Koma Kansai 古滿 寛哉 saku 作
Japan, Edo (Tokyo), 19th century, Edo period (1615-1868)
Published:
Barry Davies Oriental Art (1993) Inro: One Hundred Selected Masterpieces, no. 63.
Sydney L. Moss (2010) they are all fire and every one doth shine. The Elly Nordskog Collection of Japanese Inro, Pipecases and Netsuke, London, p. 168-171, no. 38.
Of upright form and oval section, the four-case inro bearing a lustrous kinji ground, masterfully worked in iro-e takamaki-e and hiramaki-e, to depict Ibaraki reaching over to grab Watanabe no Tsuna’s collar, partially concealed by the foggy whirlwind, the swirls of the mist-tornado sweeping straw leaves and represented in powerful bands of sumi-outlined e-nashiji to add volume to the relatively low relief maki-e composition. The reverse anticipating for the viewer the swift, violent flurry of action which is about to follow, destined to result in one arm less for the demon. The interior compartments of nashiji with gold fundame rims. With a glass ojime imitating coral.
HEIGHT 9.3 cm, LENGTH 5.9 cm
Condition: Excellent condition with only very minor wear.
Provenance: Ex-collection Elinor “Elly” Nordskog (1919-2013), with Sydney Moss Ltd., London. The interior with an old inventory label, ‘4332’.
Curiously, the demon’s cloak as it billows out reveals a delicate spider’s web design in gold maki-e. There is even an outside chance that the swirling leaves might be intended to combine with the suggestion implicit in the spider’s webbed cloak of a large lotus leaf hat that the pair represent the mitate interpretation of Jizo Bosatsu and Kannon fishing for souls, once they’ve made up. It is a common perception that spiders transform into oni after dark.
Koma is the family name of one of the most famous dynasties of lacquer artists, founded by Kyui who worked in Edo in the 17th century; members of the family continued as lacquerers to the court and shogunate until well into the 19th century. Probably all the family lacquered inro among other objects, starting with Kyui I who was recorded as having lacquered inro for the Shogun Iemitsu.
Literature comparison:
Compare a related inro with a similar design of Watanabe no Tsuna and the Rashomon demon, which must share a common source, in Weber, Victor Frédéric (1975) Ko-ji ho-ten: Dictionnaire à l'usage des Amateurs et Collectionneurs d'Objets d'Art japonais et chinois, Vol. II, pl. LXVII (opposite p. 448).
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