Description
Item:
Inro Makie Shibayama Flowerpot. A Shibayama-Inlaid Gold-Lacquer Four-Case Inro. Meiji era (1868-1912), late 19th/early 20th century. Exquisite piece. Exceptional work by shimayama selecting each piece to give a different colour to the flowers and leaves. Truly out of the ordinary work. A beautiful and perfect object.
The upright kinji body decorated in Shibayama style with a Chinese vase brimming over with peonies, chrysanthemums, and bush clover, petals strewn around the ground on one side and leafy sprigs of shukaido (hardy begonia) on the reverse, the interior of rich nashiji, unsigned; with a gold-lacquered ojime and mixed-metal inlaid circular netsuke, carved with a coiled dragon
6,8 x 5,5 cm
What is an Inro?
An inro is a traditional Japanese case for holding small objects, suspended from the obi (sash) worn around the waist when wearing a kimono. They are often highly decorated with various materials such as lacquer and various techniques such as maki-e, and are more decorative than other Japanese lacquerware.
Because traditional Japanese dress lacked pockets, objects were often carried by hanging them from the obi in containers known as sagemono (a hanging object attached to a sash). Most sagemono were created for specialized contents, such as tobacco, pipes, writing brush and ink, but the type known as inro is suitable for carrying small things, and was created in the Sengoku period (1467–1615) as a portable identity seal and medicine container for travel.
