A Japanese Shell Inlaid Black Lacquer Four-Case Inro

19TH CENTURY

the slender inro inlaid with shell decoration depicting a continuous landscape scene with figures, against on a roiro ground, the top and underside decorated with shell inlaid diaper patterns, the interior of black lacquer, together with a silver and gold decorated metal melon-form ojime, and a carved boxwood netsuke with a demon's face.

Length 3 3/4 in., 9.3 cm.

Property from The Strong National Museum of Play, sold to benefit the Collections Fund

The inro in structurally sound condition, though having scattered regions of loss to the mother-of-pearl inlays, and the lower case with a slight age crack with no separation or flaking. The ojime with some rubbing to the reverse, and the netsuke in good condition.

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Ms. Wu joined the firm in 2014, after working as a specialist in the Asian Works of Art Department of an East Coast auction house. She researches, appraises, and sells Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, and South East Asian works of art, including jades, bronzes, ceramics, paintings, armor, and furniture. Throughout her career, Ms. Wu has achieved record prices for several prominent estates and collections, including the Estate of Frank G. Mertes, Sr., Winona, Minnesota; the Chinese Painting Collection of Ms. Yuan Jiaying and Mr. Li Guoyuan, Chicago; the Estate of Hisazo Nagatani, Chicago, and the Asian Art Collection deaccessioned from the Strong Museum of Play, Rochester, New York.

Strong Diversions: Property from a Lifetime of Play

A Japanese Shell Inlaid Black Lacquer Four-Case Inro

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