A FINE JAPANESE GOLD AND SILVER LACQUER SUZURIBAKO (WRITING BOX AND COVER) MEIJI ERA, 19TH CENTURY Attribute to the Igarashi School, the almost square kabusebuta (overlapping lid) embellished with a gate leading to thatched pavilions in a mountainous landscape, the huts nestled amongst leafy vegetation; the interior of the cover richly decorated with a large silver crescent moon above a meandering stream, a man gathering horsetail with a sickle below; the interior of the box embellished with further horsetail plants on a nashiji ground; the inner tray with an inscribed rectangular inkstone, a silver suiteki and four calligraphy implements; the decoration rendered in hiramaki-e, takamaki-e and nashiji on the black roiro ground, and the rims with metal mounts; in a fitted tomobako wood box, 4.8cm x 23cm x 24.7cm. (14) Provenance: an English private collection, Somerset, purchased in Japan. See p.5 (Chronology of Japan) of this catalogue for a detail of the decoration on the back of the cover.