KAJIKAWA KYUJIRO: AN EXCEPTIONALLY LARGE AND IMPORTANT STAG ANTLER-INLAID LACQUER FOUR CASE INRO DEPICTING A DRAGON, DATED 1647 BY INSCRIPTIONBy Kajikawa Kyujiro, signed Kajikawa Kyujiro 梶川久次郎 with kakihanJapan, dated 1647, Edo period (1615-1868)Published: Wrangham, Edward (1995) The Index of Inro Artists, p. 159 (only the signature is illustrated).Of upright form, the ground of roiro with a dusting of gold powder and mura-nashiji, lacquered in takamaki-e and inlaid in green-stained stag-antler with a sinuously writhing three-clawed two-horned dragon clutching a sacred tama (jewel) amid thick swirling clouds. The base dated Shoho yon hinoto-i shoshun (‘early Spring in the fourth year of Shoho’, corresponding to 1647) and signed KAJIKAWA KYUJIRO with a red kakihan.The wood ojime is also of unusually large size and is carved a three-sided Bizen-ware sake bottle, a carved rope tied around the neck, two sides worked in relief with a standing Hotei, one holding a fan, one side incised with the signature Ippo. Note also the exceptionally large inro cord.HEIGHT 17.6 cm (the inro) and 4.3 cm (the ojime)Condition: Very good condition with minor wear and expected traces of use. The top with minor dents and discoloration to lacquer. The interior with few small nicks, tiny nibbles, few minor chips and flakes, few minor age cracks.Provenance: Sotheby’s, London, 1984. Ex-collection Edward Wrangham (no. 1708), acquired from the above. Bonhams, The Edward Wrangham Collection of Japanese Art Part I, 9 November 2010, London, lot 248 (sold for 36,000 GBP). A Princely Collection, acquired from the above. OId label to ojime, ‘4772.B’. The interior of the cover lacquered with a collector’s number, ‘25298.’The present inro is unusual and extremely rare for its huge size, which along with the dating inscription make it an important work of art. It was likely commissioned by the shogunate in the mid-17th century.Kyujiro, also known as Kajikawa II, was a direct pupil of Hikobei, the founder of the Kajikawa dynasty. Kyujiro is generally considered to have established the family reputation. He worked for the shogunate, living in Nakabashi in Edo, and in the words of the Soken Kisho of 1781 was ‘the best inro maker of the past or present’. His dates are not recorded, but he must have worked in the mid-17th century. Another exceptionally large inro is recorded in the W. L. Behrens collection, no. 468, and shows a design of a snail and bamboo in relief with pewter, gold, and aogai.