Kanshosai Toyo

A Four-Case Inro 

By Kanshosai Toyo

Edo Period,18th - 19th century

Signed: “Toyo” and kakihan

Height: 6.4 cm

Provenance: 

Shep Brozman collection

Literature:

Louis Lawrence, Japanese Inrō from the Brozman Collection, London, Genlux Holdings Ltd., 1993, cat. 21

The inro is decorated in iroe-hiramaki-e, takamaki-e and inlaid in mother-of-pearl and pewter with poem cards depicting courtiers and poems.

Iizuka Toyo, who used to go “Kanshosai”, was a well-known lacquerer who worked in Edo during the second part of the 18th century. He was employed to Hachisuka Shigeyoshi, daimyō of Awa on Shikoku Island, where he was awarded a stipend and the samurai status. He had a number of descendants and pupils, some of whom used the same name, who worked throughout the rest of the Edo period.