Project Description
Four-case Lacquer Inro with the Story of the Willow Tree by Mototada (Kyoto 1669-1734)
With a roiro-kinpun ground, lacquered on one side with a bridge, its posts and hand rail inlaid in aogai, autumn flowers in the foreground, on the other with an upturned kasa lying on jakago beneath a weeping willow, again with masterful use of aogai
Signed … with kaō
8 cm
It is relatively rare to have biographical information about inro-shi, but Wrangham gives some for Mototada, including his precise dates, which are earlier than I guessed from looking at the inro. He was a court noble and an artistic dilettante, making inro and sword fittings, as well as producing Kanō style paintings. Wrangham credits him with “quite sophisticated lacquer designs” for an artist of his time, as we can see in the present work6
MR5049
