Fujii Kanbun
Natsume with Fireflies, 1930s
Black lacquer on wood with engraved decor in gold, green and red lacquer
Size 2¾ x 2½ x 2½ in. (7.1 x 6.9 x 6.9 cm)
T-3940.1
A natsume (tea caddy). The turned-wood core finished in polished black roiro lacquer and decorated principally in gold chinkinbori with details in colored lacquer depicting hotaru (fireflies) alighting on leaves;...
A natsume (tea caddy). The turned-wood core finished in polished black roiro lacquer and decorated principally in gold chinkinbori with details in colored lacquer depicting hotaru (fireflies) alighting on leaves; the interior with a semi-abstract stream and grasses in gold chinkinbori
Signed with incised characters on the base Kanbun kizamu (carved by Kanbun)
Comes with a fitted wood tomobako box inscribed outside Katagiri chinkin hotaru natsume (Tea caddy in katagiri chinkin technique with fireflies), signed and sealed on the reverse of the lid Kanbun
Born in Wajima, Kanazawa Prefecture—one of Japan’s principal centers of lacquerware production—Fujii Kanbun started his career as a painter. His paintings were selected several times for the Teiten national exhibitions during the 1920s and 1930s but he later switched to lacquer, first showing his work in this medium at the second Shinbunten exhibition in 1938. He was admired for his mastery of chinkin, a technique that has been a hallmark of Wajima lacquer since the early modern period.
Designs executed by chinkin specialists are carved into a highly finished surface prepared by other skilled craftspeople who apply multiple layers of lacquer to a wood core, painstakingly allowing each layer to set in a special chamber that provides the right temperature and humidity, then polishing it before applying the next. The chinkin master uses a range of chisels, some of them producing lines of varying width that emulate the strokes of a Japanese calligraphy or painting brush—the so-called katagiri (“side carving”) mentioned in this tea caddy’s box inscription. Finally, the grooves made by the chisels are filled with gold leaf or powder, products for which Kanazawa is renowned throughout Japan and beyond.
The artist’s painterly background is apparent in his approach to the decoration of this unusual natsume which takes the chinkin technique to new levels, creating not just the fine lines so characteristic of the technique but also broader areas of gold and some of the new colors—green on the leaves and red on the fireflies’ wings—that were added to the lacquerer’s palette during the first half of the twentieth century. The boldly incised dewdrops add a striking final touch.
Signed with incised characters on the base Kanbun kizamu (carved by Kanbun)
Comes with a fitted wood tomobako box inscribed outside Katagiri chinkin hotaru natsume (Tea caddy in katagiri chinkin technique with fireflies), signed and sealed on the reverse of the lid Kanbun
Born in Wajima, Kanazawa Prefecture—one of Japan’s principal centers of lacquerware production—Fujii Kanbun started his career as a painter. His paintings were selected several times for the Teiten national exhibitions during the 1920s and 1930s but he later switched to lacquer, first showing his work in this medium at the second Shinbunten exhibition in 1938. He was admired for his mastery of chinkin, a technique that has been a hallmark of Wajima lacquer since the early modern period.
Designs executed by chinkin specialists are carved into a highly finished surface prepared by other skilled craftspeople who apply multiple layers of lacquer to a wood core, painstakingly allowing each layer to set in a special chamber that provides the right temperature and humidity, then polishing it before applying the next. The chinkin master uses a range of chisels, some of them producing lines of varying width that emulate the strokes of a Japanese calligraphy or painting brush—the so-called katagiri (“side carving”) mentioned in this tea caddy’s box inscription. Finally, the grooves made by the chisels are filled with gold leaf or powder, products for which Kanazawa is renowned throughout Japan and beyond.
The artist’s painterly background is apparent in his approach to the decoration of this unusual natsume which takes the chinkin technique to new levels, creating not just the fine lines so characteristic of the technique but also broader areas of gold and some of the new colors—green on the leaves and red on the fireflies’ wings—that were added to the lacquerer’s palette during the first half of the twentieth century. The boldly incised dewdrops add a striking final touch.
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