Wood and Lacquer Kobako with Distinguished Provenance and Long Attribution to Shibata Zeshin in the Style of Jikan Gambun

The body a section of a slender trunk or branch of a tree from which springs the stub of a small branch, around which scuttle 3 lacquer ants, the grain of the wood enhanced by chiseling. The ends of both parts, as well as the concave parts of the interior,are coated with gold nashiji, the flat surfaces of the interior fundame and the base recently lacquered black

Signed with an unidentified red lacquer kaō. 19th century

Length: 7.4 cm

While I do not for a moment believe an attribution to Zeshin, it seems that the box was signed as such on the base, now covered by the recent black lacquer. Did the commissioner of the lacquering have any clue as to what he or she was doing?

Provenance:

Charles Vignier and Marianne Densmore collections, Paris

D. Bess collection (whether before or after the preceding owners unknown)

Charles Greenfield collection, New York, sold in the third sale at Sotheby’s New York, 24th March 1999, lot 186

Exhibited:

Japan House Gallery exhibition, ‘The Magnificent Three: Lacquer, Netsuke and Tsuba’ (Greenfield collection), 1972, Boxes section no. 21, listed, but not illustrated on p. 122 of the catalogue by Harold P. Stern

Frederick S. Wight Gallery, 1976, no. 121, illustrated on p. 177 of the catalogue

Asia House Gallery, 1977

Literature:

Cultural Affairs International, Gakken Co. Ltd., ‘Masterpieces of Shibata Zeshin’, 1981, no. 37

Project Description