Unsigned
Japan, 19^th century; Edo period (1615-1868)

Of upright rectangular form and oval section, bearing a lustrous roiro ground, finely worked in gold takamaki-e, kirigane, as well as aogai, to depict the silhouette of Toba riding his mule dressed in a heavy cloak and a large gold-foil inlaid hat. The verso decorated with craggy rocks on a sparsely vegetated landscape with a few sprigs of curled warabi (fern shoots) among other foliage. The interior compartments of nashiji with gold fundame rims. With a gold lacquer ojime.

HEIGHT 6.6. cm, LENGTH 5.7 cm

Condition: Very good condition with minor wear and expected minuscule losses to kirigane.
Provenance: Ex-collection Edward Gilbertson, 1917. Ex-collection Mrs. T.S. Hall, acquired from the above. Collection of James and Christine Heusinger, acquired from the above. An old collector’s label is affixed to the first case, ‘Mrs. T.S. Hall Collection, Ex Gilbertson 1917’. Another old collector’s label to the bottom, ‘1781’. Edward Gilbertson (1813-1904) was born in London and apprenticed at the age of eighteen to an artist and engraver. His early career as an artist was abandoned for a career in banking. In 1860 he was appointed secretary to the Ottoman Bank and was later appointed director of the bank in Constantinople. During this period, he was awarded honors by the Sultan for his services to the Turkish economy. In 1871, he returned to London and served on the board of the Ottoman Bank and the Improved Hardwood Paving Company. In his retirement, he first encountered Japanese art when he lent money to a friend with a collection of Japanese ivory figures as surety. Long swords and sword fittings soon became his main focus, and he assembled a collection of almost 300 items. A founding member of the Japan Society, London, in 1891, Gilbertson was an avid collector and scholar of Japanese art. James and Christine Heusinger started collecting Japanese art in the late 1970s. James and Chirstine worked for a travel agency until James became a prominent carpenter, whose company renovated the office of US Vice President Dick Cheney’s office. His collection began with a modest piece by Seifu Yohei III, and expanded into over 100 pieces. They doneate the majority of their pieces to the Cleveland Museum of Art, University Hospitals of Cleveland, and Oishei Children’s Hospital in Buffalo.