Two Japanese Tobacco Boxes, Tonkotsu

19TH CENTURY

comprising a black lacquer example, decorated with three birds in flight underneath the moon, together with a blue glass ojime and an embellished wood netsuke in the shape of a covered box, signed Mitani, 三谷, on a mother-of-pearl inlaid panel; a hardwood example in the shape of two confronting dragons bearing a pearl of wisdom, signed, together with a reticulated wood lotus netsuke.

Length of larger 2 3/4 in., 7 cm.

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

Each with some minor surface scratches to the box and netsuke. The black lacquered example with a few age cracks at the inside of the cover.

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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

Two Japanese Tobacco Boxes, Tonkotsu

Strong Diversions: Property from a Lifetime of Play

Two Japanese Tobacco Boxes, Tonkotsu

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