A chū-natsume (medium-sized tea caddy), the turned-wood core finished in polished black roiro lacquer and incised in chinkin technique with decoration of numerous densely packed pine needles in roughly circular...
A chū-natsume (medium-sized tea caddy), the turned-wood core finished in polished black roiro lacquer and incised in chinkin technique with decoration of numerous densely packed pine needles in roughly circular concentric arrays, the base and interior plain black lacquer
The base signed with incised characters Shigeo
Comes with a fitted wood tomobako box, inscribed outside Kuro-urushi chinkin hikimatsuba moyō chū-natsume (Black-lacquer medium tea caddy with design of pine needles in chinkin technique), signed and sealed Shigeo
The first Mae Shigeo was the nephew and pupil of Living National Treasure Mae Taihō (1890-1977), who developed the chinkin technique to new levels of bravura and refinement. 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 then uses a range of chisels to create grooves that are then filled with gold leaf or powder.