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Signed Japanese Lacquer Comb Set with Inlaid MOP browse these categories for related items... All Items: Antiques:Regional Art:Asian:Japanese:Lacquer: Pre 1920: item # 880536 Please refer to our stock # 11F-148 when inquiring.
B & C Antiques P. O. Box 291 Derby, CT 06418 203-929-7312 Guest Book $475 |
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This stunning Japanese makie lacquer hair comb (“kushi”) and ornamental hair bar (“kogai”) set is decorated en suite and dates to the Meiji/Taisho period, early 20th century. There is two-character signature of "Chikuho" in gold lacquer on both the comb and the kogai. The front side of the comb is painstakingly decorated with long thin leaves finished in gold and silver hiramakie (flat lacquer) and takamakie (raised lacquer) with iridescent “aogai” (abalone shell) inlay on a rich black roiro-nuri lacquer ground. Roiro is a technique using the highest quality black urushi lacquer, applied and polished in several layers. It is only used on the highest quality lacquer items. What is most striking in this comb are the hundreds of minute squares of cut abalone shell that have been inlaid into some of the leaves, creating a dazzling effect with brilliant red, green and blue iridescence that is hard to capture in photographs. This painstaking aogai inlay extends over the spine onto the reverse side of the comb, and remarkably, also into the tan lacquer tines of the comb. This motif is also carried through on the black and tan lacquer kogai, where glittering inlaid aogai leaves embellish both ends. In the 19th century, aogai decoration became quite popular, and works displaying it were usually technically very well executed in extreme detail. To Japanese women, hair ornaments were much more than mere accessories to feminine hair-do and attire. The comb progressed from a utilitarian object to a highly decorative one on which craftsmen and artists lavished their imagination and skill. In keeping with their inclination to beautify even ordinary items of everyday use, the Japanese turned hair ornaments into extraordinary artistic objects that mirrored the cultural and social history of the period. They reflected the life and status of their wearers, who were geisha, courtesans, ladies in the court and women in their homes. In their own small way, combs and hairpins provide a miniature glimpse of the exceptional beauty of Japanese art. (See the wonderful article “Combs and Hairpins” by Sharon Ziesnitz and Takeguchi Momoko in DARUMA 35, Summer 2002.) CONDITION is excellent. DIMENSIONS: Comb is 4 3/8” (11 cm) x 2 ¼” (5.8 cm), hairpin is 6 ¾” (17.2 cm) long. |
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