
Covered Box with Monkey Posing as a Collector
by Unno Moritoshi (Japanese, 1834-1896) 1834-1896 (late Edo-Meiji)

2 1/16 x 4 9/16 in. (5.2 x 11.6 cm)


an amateur attempt to colect images of japanese metalwork and ivory masterpieces.
Tsuri-gōro or hanging incense burner in the form of a flying bat with half-folded wings. Of cast and cold-chiseled bronze, with a copper wire chain. Edo period, late 18th – early 19th century. With a period wood storage box, inscribed on the exterior of the lid: Kōro, Kōmori or Incense Burner, Bat (Form); and on the side of the box inscribed: Kōmori Kōro or Bat (Form) Incense Burner. Though bats were considered omens of good fortune in China, Edo period artists rarely sculpted them. By the late 19th and early 20th century, bats figure in paintings of the moon, and rarely in carved trays for sencha tea (c.f. Kagedo’s catalogue Breaking Light, numbers 59 – 62). Modeled with the quirky realism common to Edo period bronzes, this rare incense burner must have been commissioned by an eccentric and affluent literati of the samurai class. Finely chiseled details render the fur across the neck, detail the open teeth, and tiny, curling feet. The assembled chain is woven from very fine copper wire. With its tensed wings, it would have been seen wreathed in incense as if darting suddenly through clouds. |
1 5/8” high x 7 3/8” wide x 4 ½” long (dimensions of bat without hanging chain). |
Koro or incense burner in the form of a hare crouching and looking upwards, its ears pointedly alert, of cast and cold chiseled bronze. A cloud form hinges the lid across the back. Late Muromachi–Momoyama Period, 16th century. Probably admiring the moon, this hare has soft curving lines and extremely fine color. Bronze suiteki or water droppers in the form of rabbits with similarly erect ears were also cast in the 16th century |
8" high x 5 3/16" x 3 5 |
Okimono in the form of a snarling tiger, of cast and cold chiseled akagane bronze. Edo Period, mid 19th century. Edo Period depictions of tigers such as this mix the charm of the house cat which the Japanese knew firsthand with the ferocity of the larger but unfamiliar foreign beast |
6 5/8" high x 8.75" x |
5" high x 6.5" |