Inro Red lacquer horse

Description

Item: 

Great inro lacquered with red urushi lacquer with a maki-e figure on each side, a horse on one side and an ox on the other. Signed ‘Jōsen saku’ 常川作, red seal: Seisan 清三. The box is divided in five parts with four storages. It also has a beautifully carved ryusha netsuke of high quality and a red coral Ojime. A real piece of 19th century craftsmanship. Both the inro and the netsuke are in an almost pristine condition which is very important for most collectors and makes this piece worthy of any museum.

8,8 x 5,4 cm

What is an Inro?

An inro is a traditional Japanese case for holding small objects, suspended from the obi (sash) worn around the waist when wearing a kimono. They are often highly decorated with various materials such as lacquer and various techniques such as maki-e, and are more decorative than other Japanese lacquerware.

Because traditional Japanese dress lacked pockets, objects were often carried by hanging them from the obi in containers known as sagemono (a hanging object attached to a sash). Most sagemono were created for specialized contents, such as tobacco, pipes, writing brush and ink, but the type known as inro is suitable for carrying small things, and was created in the Sengoku period (1467–1615) as a portable identity seal and medicine container for travel.