Four case inro with Horse and Rider

Four case inro with Horse and Rider by Koma Yasutada 

The inro shows an unusual view of the horse trying to buck its rider.

Roiro ground with mura-nashiji; decoration in polychrome togidashi. Compartments and risers in red lacquer; shoulders and rims in fundame

Signed in raised gold lacquer: Koma Yasutasa saku.  Late 18th century

Provenance: 

Alexander G. Moslé collection

His sale, Parke-Bernet, New York, 22nd April 1948, no. 14

Charles A. Greenfield, New York

Eskenazi, London, 1990, where bought by the present owner

Information: 

According to a sixth century legend, a hurricane had destroyed estates in the Kamo region near Kyoto; a propitiatory festival was then ordered by the emperor to appease the Shinto gods, to be celebrated each year in the fourth month on the day of the cockerel. During this festival two men on horse-back, one dressed in black and the other in red, took part in a horse race

Exhibited: 

Berlin, 1909, Königliches Kunstgewerbe Museum, Ausstellung Japanische Kunstwerke Sammlung Moslé, no. 1734 in the catalogue

E.A. Seemann, The Moslé Collection Descriptive Catalogue, 1914, vol. II, no. 1734, illustrated on pl. CXV

New York, 1972, Japan House Gallery, The Magnificent Three, no. 71;

Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, Japanese Lacquer 1600-1900, Selections from the Charles A. Greenfield Collection, 1980, no. 89, illustrated fig. 106

Literature:

Eskenazi, London, The Charles A. Greenfield collection of Japanese lacquer, 1990, no. 89

MR1068