Offered by Galerie Tiago
Two compartments inrô inlaid with black lacquer, hira maki-e and mother-of-pearl inlays on a hirameiji background (black lacquer decorated with more or less dense but nevertheless distinct gold sequins), representing a bouquet of chrysanthemums in a small purse, a butterfly net on the reverse, a butterfly in flight on both sides. The interior is in hirameiji lacquer.
Ojime in burnished painted bronze in the shape of a Japanese umbrella (wagasa, ??). The umbrella is originally made of bamboo and washi paper (made from rice). Japanese people, who are particularly concerned about their skin, use the umbrella to protect and maintain a white complexion. Today it is a mainly aesthetic object. It is mainly used at weddings, tea ceremony or in kabuki plays.
Wooden netsuke representing a taiko player, the traditional Japanese drum, (wadaiko, ???). Passive, he holds the drum horizontally in his hands. The taiko has been known since at least the 6th century, at the end of the kofun period (250-538 AD). The mythological origin of the instrument is described in the Nihon shoki (720), the second oldest book in Japan. The goddess Amaterasu, who had locked herself in a cave in anger, was recalled the elder goddess Ama-no-Uzume, while others had failed. Ame-no-Uzume manages to get Amaterasu out, aroused by curiosity, by emptying a barrel of sake and dancing on it. The taiko accompanies religious ceremonies and popular events.
Japan, Edo period (1603-1868)
Height: 5,5 cm (2,2 in) - Width: 7,3 cm (2,9 in)
