SHIBATA ZESHIN (1807-1891) A Lacquer Inro with Design of Shoki the Demon-Queller and a Demon, and Netsuke with Sake-Bottle Design Meiji era (1868-1912), circa 1886 (2)SHIBATA ZESHIN (1807-1891)A Lacquer Inro with Design of Shoki the Demon-Queller and a Demon, and Netsuke with Sake-Bottle Design Meiji era (1868–1912), circa 1886In sheath-inro form, the case of wood covered in silver fundame textured in ishime-nuri to imitate the walls of a rustic dwelling, each side pierced with a window, the window bars rendered on one side in shell and on the other in tetsusabi-nuri, one side of the sheath hinged to release the container inside, the interior of the sheath finished in gold fundame lacquer, the container probably of paper, with overhanging lid and divided interior, covered in gold kinji and ishime-nuri; on the front, Shoki the Demon-Queller in coloured togidashi maki-e seen from the waist up, dressed in the robes and cap of a Chinese scholar-official, with his sword on his back and wearing a baleful expression, the reverse also in togidashi maki-e with an oni (demon) in silhouette hiding behind a shoji (paper screen), signed in scratched characters on the base near one of the cord-runners Zeshin, 8.2cm × 6cm × 1.6cm (3¼in × 2 3/8in × 5/8in); the netsuke in box form, of wood lacquered in shibuichi-nuri and with a design of a large and a small decorated gourd in takamaki-e; iron and gold ojime in the form of a mallet; the netsuke signed in scratched characters on the base Zeshin, 3.2cm × 2.7cm × 1.4cm (1¼in × 1in × ½in); with a fitted wood storage box. (2).Provenance:Inro: Henri Vever (1854-1942) Collection.Vignier Collection.Densmore Collection.Bess Collection.Netsuke: Hayashi Collection, sold in 1902.Henri Vever (1854-1942) Collection.Inro and netsuke: Charles Greenfield Collection, sold at Eskenazi Ltd., London, 1990.Misumi Collection.Sold in these Rooms, 5 November 2014, lot 6.A Royal Collection.Exhibited and Published:Stern, Harold P., The Magnificent Three: Lacquer, Netsuke and Tsuba, exh. cat., New York, Japan House Gallery, 1972, cat. no.164 (inro).Pekarik, Andrew J., Japanese Lacquer, 1600-1900: Selections from the Charles A. Greenfield Collection, exh. cat., New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1980, cat. no.79.Eskenazi Ltd., The Charles A. Greenfield Collection of Japanese Lacquer, London, 1990, cat. no.79.Nezu Museum, Shibata Zeshin no shikko, urushi-e, kaiga (Shibata Zeshin: From Lacquer Arts to Painting), exh. cat., Tokyo, 2012, cat. no.87.The Chinese demon-queller Shoki in pursuit of a fleeing oni (demon) was one of Zeshin's favourite subjects in both lacquer and painting, and numerous examples are extant. The Nezu Museum in Tokyo owns an inro (Nezu Bijutsukan 2012, cat. no.86) which is very similar to the present lot with the difference that the inner container is in the more usual form of a set of interlocking compartments. With its intricate structure, complex range of techniques, lively characterization, and meticulous finish, this lot displays many of the virtues of Zeshin's finest inro.