Lot 391: A Uematsu Hobi (1872-1973) Lacquer Writing Box (Suzuribako) and Matching Document Box

A Uematsu Hobi (1872-1973) Lacquer Writing Box (Suzuribako) and Matching Document Box (Ryoshibako)
Meiji period (circa 1900), signed Hobi and with kao (cursive monogram)
Both boxes rectangular and designed on the exterior with a cedar forest in sumi-e togidashi on a bright kinji ground; the interior of the document box decorated with maple trees and rocks at the head of a waterfall; the interior of the writing box with a blossoming cherry tree beside the foot of the waterfall; interiors of both boxes designed in gold and silver takamaki-e and hiramaki-e, togidashi, kirigane and nashiji ground; the writing box fitted with an interior tray holding a rectangular ink stone with nashiji edges and a quatrelobed water dropper finished in shakudo nanako and set into a shakudo dish; rims silver
Writing box 9 1/8 x 6 3/4 x 1 3/4 in. (23.3 x 17.2 x 4.3cm.); document box 14 1/2 x 10 3/8 x 4 1/2 in. (36.7 x 26.4 x 11.4cm.)
With wood storage boxes labelled for the Paris Universal Exposition [1900] (2)

L'Exposition Universelle, Paris, 1900

James Orange

PUBLISHED:
James Orange, ed., Nihon shikki meroku Japanese Lacquer (Yokohama: Box of Curios Printing and Publishing Company, n.d.), nos. 6 and 13.

Jan Dees, Ferden Farne Bluten; Japanische lacke de Meiji-und Taisho-zeit aus den Collections Baur Ferns Feathers Flowers: Japanese lacquer of the Meiji and Taisho periods from the Baur Collection, exh. cat. (Munster: Museum für Lackkunst, 2000), fig. 43.

Uematsu Hobi was the son of the lacquer artist Uematsu Homin (1845-1902).