SEALED KAN (OGAWA HARITSU [RITSUO]; 1663-1747), EDO PERIOD (18TH CENTURY), A lacquer writing box (suzuribako)

A lacquer writing box (suzuribako)
Sealed Kan (Ogawa Haritsu [Ritsuo]; 1663-1747), Edo period (18th century)
The lid decorated with high-relief lacquer appliqués simulating iron and soft-metal tsuba on a dark brownground, the finely lacquered motifs including Mt. Fuji, hikifune (hauling a canal boat), the Noh play Takasago and a rooster on a drum, each tsuba bearing the signature of the putative sword fitting maker, the underside of the lid decorated in gold and silver takamaki-e, inlaid mother-of-pearl, bone and porcelain with an inro, netsuke and tsuba, seal on underside of the lid, fitted with a slate ink stone and copper water dropper
9 ½ x 8 ¾ x 2 in. (24.1 x 22.2 x 5.1 cm.)

Conditions of Sale
FAQs
This lot is offered by Christie's Inc

Brought to you by

Lot Essay

Ogawa Haritsu, also known as Ritsuo, one of the great individualists in the history of lacquer, was a poet as well as a painter, potter and lacquerer. In the 1680s, he became a disciple of the haiku poet Matsuo Basho (1644-1694). Haritsu turned to lacquer after 1707, the year his friends Hattori Ransetsu and Takarai Kikaku, both disciples of Basho, died. He adopted the art name Ritsuo, or "Old man in a torn bamboo hat," in 1712. The name suggests a poet or artist wandering carefree.