A SUPERB LACQUER SUZURIBAKO (WRITING BOX) DEPICTING A MOONLIT FORESTJapan, 18th-19th century, Edo period (1615-1868)Published & Exhibited: Cornell University, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Scattered Gold and Midnight Gloss: Japanese Lacquer from the Anbinder Collection, 31 March – 8 July 2007Of rectangular form with sumikiri (chamfered) corners, a kabusebuta (overhanging) cover, and silver rims. The exterior bearing a roiro ground, finely decorated in colored hiramaki-e and togidashi-e with e-nashiji and kirikane as well as subtle inlays of aogai, depicting an autumnal forest of maple, cherry, and other trees with creepers, backed with a huge full moon rendered in ginpun.The interior of the cover bearing a rich nashiji ground decorated in gold, black, and silver takamaki-e and togidashi-e with kirikane and inlays of gold foil and aogai depicting birds perched in pine trees by a swirling stream with insects amid rockwork, flowers, and grasses.The interior of the box similarly decorated with pine and maple saplings and craggy rocks, and fitted with a board (ita) with raised sections above and below the inkstone suzuri, the upper section fitted with the copper waterdropper (suiteki) in the form of hollyhock (aoi) leaves and blossoms.SIZE 4.7 x 23.8 x 25.5 cmCondition: Very good condition with minor wear and few tiny nicks to edges, few light surface scratches, the cover with a minor nick.Provenance: Christie’s, 24 March 2003, New York, lot 162. The Paul and Helen Anbinder Collection, acquired from the above. Paul Anbinder (b. 1940) is a retired editor who was a director at important publishers including Random House and Hudson Hills. Helen Anbinder (1942-2022) was an education administrator who ran the Inter-village Continuing Education Program for Ardsley, Dobbs Ferry, Hastings, and Irvington, New York. The couple were avid museumgoers and collectors of art. They donated many books and prints from their collection to their alma mater Cornell University and the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art.With a wood storage box (tomobako).The enormous moon lacquered on the cover of the present suzuribako is reminiscent of the work of Shiomi Masanari (1647-1722) and his followers, who specialized in togidashi-e ('brought out by rubbing') lacquer of extremely high quality, as is exhibited in the present piece.Auction comparison: Compare a lacquer suzuribako by Shiomi Masanari, dated late 19th century, Meiji period, at Christie’s, 1 October 2020, New York, lot 11 (sold for 16,250 USD). Compare a lacquer suzuribako by Shiomi Masanari, dated 19th century, at Bonhams, The Edward Wrangham Collection of Japanese Art Part I, 9 November 2010, London, lot 371 (sold for 21,600 GBP).