YANO KATSUMINE (SHOHO) FOR KAWAGUCHI YOHEI OF TOKYO

A Superbly Inlaid Iron Jar and Cover with Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons
Meiji era (1868-1912), circa 1890
Of rounded-square bombé form with a flush-fitting cover, supported on a rectangular, scallop-edged integral stand, the body with curved slightly convex sides inset with four silver-outlined lobed panels, representing the four seasons, the front and back panels with decoration executed in repoussé work and high relief of gold, silver, shakudo, shibuichi and copper, the front showing Sei Shonagon wearing a traditional court junihitoe (12-layered kimono) drawing up the bamboo blinds to reveal snowflakes drifting to the ground, the reverse with a crane perched on the branch of a pine tree preparing to feed her young, the side panels each richly inlaid in flat relief of gold with a butterfly hovering among peony blooms on one and two bees among flowering stalks of chrysanthemums on the other, all reserved on a ground decorated in nunome zogan flat gold inlay with overlapping chrysanthemum heads of different sizes, the domed cover similarly decorated and surmounted with a finial in the form of two standing cranes, the remainder of the surfaces also decorated in flat gold relief with foliate or geometric motifs, the stand with roundels enclosing stylised bird and flowers on a hanabishi-mon (flowery diamond) ground, the shoulder applied with two vertical bracket handles, one panel signed for the decoration with chiselled characters Katsumine with an inlaid gold kao, signed on the base Dai Nihon Tokyo-shi Kawaguchi sei on an inlaid gold plaque; with the original wood stand elaborately carved in high relief with a flock of chidori (plovers or dotterels) skimming over tumultuous waters beneath a narrow band of hares leaping among waves. The jar and cover: 38.5cm (15 1/8in) high; the wood stand: 9.7cm x 21cm (3 7/8in x 8¼in). (3).
Footnotes:
The commissioner of this magnificent jar and cover was Kawaguchi Yohei of Tachibanacho, Tokyo, known to have also worked with Kashima (Kajima) Ikkoku (1846-1925) and other leading Tokyo metal artists, see Hida Toyojiro, 'Exporters of Meiji Decorative Arts', in Oliver Impey and Malcolm Fairley eds., The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Japanese Art, vol. 1, Selected Essays, London, Kibo Foundation, 1995, pp.70-96, p.90, note 7, taken from Tokyo meikokan an official list compiled in 1877. The individual responsible for the decoration, Katsumine (or Shoho), receives only the briefest of mentions in Wakayama Homatsu (Takeshi), Kinko jiten (A Dictionary of Metalworkers), Tokyo, Yuzankaku, 1972, p.62, where his surname is given as Yano and his period of activity as the Meiji and Taisho eras; a few Meiji-era works marked Katsumine can be found online. For examples of comparable work in iron by Kajima Ikkoku, see Oliver Impey and Malcolm Fairley, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Japanese Art, vol. 2, Metalwork, London, The Kibo Foundation, 1995, part 1, cat. nos.45 and 46 and Joe Earle, Splendors of Imperial Japan: Arts of the Meiji Period from the Khalili Collection, London, Khalili Family Trust, 2002, cat. no.42.

For the court lady Sei Shonagon's (born circa 965) appreciation of morning snow, see the much-quoted opening section of her celebrated Pillow Book: Fuyu wa yuki no furitaru wa iubeki mo arazu shimo nado no ito shiroku ('In winter the early mornings. It is beautiful indeed when snow has fallen during the night, but splendid too when the ground is white with frost' [translation by Ivan Morris, The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, Harmondsworth, 1971, p.21)]).

Including but not limited to the following:

All the inlays original and intact. Some areas (particularly along the scalloped edge) where the gold details have ever slightly tarnished but easily rectifiable. Very good condition and excellent presentable order.

Wood stand: Well carved. Slightly cracked around the feet, the longest crack across both feet, measuring 16.5cm. Scattered old tiny chips around the extremities, here and there, the most noticeable chip (approx. 1cm) along the upper edge, just above a rabbit. Overall very good condition.