A Satsuma koro (incense burner) and en-suite cover


By Nakamura Baikei, Meiji era (1868-1912), late 19th/early 20th centuryFinely decorated in enamels and gilt with two extensive daimyo gyoretsu (procession of a Japanese feudal lord), winding past buildings on a lake shore, carrying their feudal lord and lady in separate kago (palanquins), high-ranking samurai on horseback leading from the front, other attendants and retainers on foot carrying banners and all the other paraphernalia, a moated castle in the distance, the neck with a band of swirling brocade, the shoulder applied with two upright bracket handles, the foot with a band of repeated geometric motifs enclosed within shield-shaped panels, the en-suite partially pierced cover embellished with overlapping decorated open fans and surmounted by a finial in the form of a shishi; signed on the base in gilt Nakamura Baikei zo with a gilt seal beneath a long self-congratulatory inscription by the artist enclosed in a scroll. 20.2cm (8in) high. (2).
|ProvenanceA German private collection.Transcription of self-congratulatory inscription:該品ハ最モ精巧細美ノ極タル者ニテ其使用スル所ロノ絵貝焼金ノ如キハ其ノ尤モ純良ナル品質ヲ撰シ多年ノ苦心経験トヲ以テ製ナルヲ用ヒ殊ニ数回モ焼付シタレバ決テ他日変体ノ貴ヒナリ実ニ他ノ及ブ可キニアラズ且ツ此物品ハ信ニ其起草ヨリ数拾日ニテ造レリ実ニ信ノ美術品トシテ愛スルニ足ル普ク純良ノ物品ナルハ世評ニ膾炙スル可ナリ敢テ[...]ニ贅言ヲ要セズ　奚