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Wakasa-Nuri Lacquer Inro with Ceramic Netsuke browse these categories for related items... All Items: Antiques:Regional Art:Asian:Japanese:Lacquer: Pre 1920: item # 125109 Please refer to our stock # SB-15 when inquiring.
B & C Antiques P. O. Box 291 Derby, CT 06418 203-929-7312 Guest Book $675 |
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| This lovely four case Japanese lacquer inro reflects the typical mottled orange, gold and black Wakasa-nuri lacquer technique. Early 20th century. It is complete with a cylindrical stone ojime and an unusual egg-shaped blue and white porcelain netsuke. The netsuke, which is decorated with a tengu, is signed Sen Zan. Inro are small Japanese containers made in several sections which are fitted on top of each other so perfectly that the joints are hardly noticeable. They were carried on the right hip, suspended from the obi with a double silk cord attached to a netsuke. A small bead (ojime) held the cords together just below the obi. The earliest inro were used for containing seals; however, in later they were used as medicine boxes. Many 19th century inro were executed by some of the most celebrated lacquer artists of the time. Wakasa was a provincial lacquer center which developed its own technique. In Wakasa-nuri, layers of different colored lacquers (predominantly brown, yellow-gold and orange) were applied to a ground deliberately rendered uneven by applying a paste, such as egg white or chalk, or by the addition of small pieces of egg shell, rice chaff, etc. Very thin gold or silver foil was then pressed so firmly into this “relief” that it fit the uneven surface like a skin. Then a coating of transparent lacquer was applied and, after it had hardened, everything was polished down to form a smooth surface. As a result, a mottled effect was created as the layers of colored lacquer under the gold foil reappeared in places to produce rather unusual patterns. (This technique is very similar to Tsugaru-nuri.) The underlying gold leaf is responsible for the overall brown-gold nashiji-like effect. Condition is excellent. Dimensions: Inro is 4 5/8” x 3” x 1 ¼” deep; netsuke is 1” x 1 ½” oval. | ||||||||||||
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