SHIOMI MASANARI: A FINE INLAID BLACK LACQUER FOUR-CASE INRO DEPICTING A RABBIT AND SILVER MOONBy Shiomi Masanari (1647-1722), signed Shiomi Masanari 鹽見政誠 hitsu 筆 and sealed Masanari 政誠Japan, 18th century, Edo period (1615-1868)Of oval section, bearing a superbly polished, lustrous roiro ground finely decorated in gold and colored hiramaki-e and aogai inlays to depict a rabbit hiding beneath bean pods under a rising full moon delicately rendered in stunning silver togidashi-e to the reverse, the interiors of rich nashiji with gold fundame edges, the reverse signed SHIOMI MASANARI hitsu [painted by Shiomi Masanari] and sealed MASANARI.With a beautifully polished pale green hardstone ojime of globular form.HEIGHT 9.8 cmCondition: Very good condition with minor wear, few small losses to inlays, one minor touchup to lacquer, possibly a few minor touchups to inlays, the ojime with a small chip and hairline fissure.Provenance: Bonhams, 13 September 2011, New York, lot 2097 (sold for 6,000 USD). A private collection in New York, USA, acquired from the above.Shiomi Masanari (1647-1722) was a talented painter of the Kano school, however he is better known for his lacquerwork and the important family of lacquerers that he founded. The Shiomi family also specialized in togidashi-e ('brought out by rubbing') lacquer of extremely high quality, as is exhibited in the present piece.Auction comparison: Compare a related inro depicting rabbits, signed in seal-form Shiomi Masanari and dated to the 19th century, lacking the aogai inlay, at Bonhams, The Misumi Collection of Important Works of Lacquer Art and Paintings Part II, 10 November 2015, London, lot 14 (sold for 10,000 GBP).