Lot 45
45
A TWO-TIERED LACQUER TABLE
A TWO-TIERED LACQUER TABLE

EARLY 20TH CENTURY, NISHIMURA HIKOBEI

Details
A TWO-TIERED LACQUER TABLE
EARLY 20TH CENTURY, NISHIMURA HIKOBEI
Decorated in gold and silver hiramaki-e, takamaki-e, togidashi, kirigane and gyobu hirame and inlaid mother-of-pearl, the top designed with the Uji bridge beside a willow tree, waterwheel and jakago (basketwork cages to prevent erosion), the bridge of gold foil, the lower surface with further willow and clouds above a stream, the side panels with open work of stylised shippo design, lined with silver, the table with engraved shakudo mounts
24 3/8 x 10 x 15 in. (61.9 x 25.4 x 38.1 cm.)
With double wood box, the inner wood box titled Momoyama hyakuso Yanagibashi makie chou-taku, signed Nana-sei Heian Zohiko saku (made by the seventh generation, Heian Zohiko), sealed Zohiko

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Takaaki Murakami
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Lot Essay

The Zohiko lineage dates from the time of the Kyoto lacquer craftsman Nishimura Munetada (1720-1773), who acquired the nickname "elephant boy" (Zohiko) for his lacquer image of the deity Fugen (Samantabhadra) on an elephant mount. This stand is possibly from the workshop in the periods of the seventh-generation Nishimura Hikobei. His nephew, the eighth generation, received the gold medal for his work at the Panama Pacific International Exposition of 1915.
For an almost identical table in the collection of the Mitsui Memorial Museum, see Zohiko Urushi Art from the Mitsui Memorial Museum Collection, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Mitsui Memorial Museum, 2011), pp. 50-51.

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