Japanese silver box with cranes signed Ishikawa Katsunobu, Meiji Period

Japanese silver and shibuichi box the cover finely inlaid in gold, silver and shakudo with two cranes on a shore among pine trees and crashing waves beneath a rising sun, the droplets of foam inlaid in gold, the sides and interior in plain silver, signed Katsunobu koku 勝信刻 (engraved by Katsunobu) with gold seal Ishikawa 石川, Meiji Period.

With tomobako wood storage box inscribed: Kyokujitsu shokaku no zu, ginsei, kashiki 旭日松鶴之図, 銀製, 菓子器 (sweets box made in silver, with design of the rising sun, pine and cranes).

The reverse lid inscribed Mito Hagiya Katsuhira nai, Katsunobu saku 水戸萩谷勝平内, 勝信作 (made by Katsunobu, pupil of Hagiya Katsuhira of the Mito School).

Ishikawa Katsunobu 石川 勝信 was one of the most talented metalworkers of his time, also known by his go (art name) Chishinsai 知新斎. He was born in 1869 in Mito, Ibaragi Prefecture northeast of Tokyo, and in 1882 was apprenticed to Namekawa Sadakatsu and Unno Shomin. He later started to work on his own in 1890 and lived in Atagoshita district, Tokyo.

He exhibited two pieces at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900, see Tokyo Kokuritsu Bunka-zai Kenkyujo (Tokyo National Research Institution of Cultural Properties), Meijiki bankoku haku- rankai bijutsuhin shuppin mokuroku (Catalogues of objects exhibited at International Expositions in the Meiji Era),Tokyo, Chuokoron Bijutsu Shuppan, 1997, nos. Q168, R818. He also exhibited at many International exhibitions including the Japan-British Exposition in 1910. His work was commissioned by the Hattori Clock Company, an upscale emporium in the Ginza district, and the Mitsukoshi Department store in Nihonbashi. He was appointed an Imperial Court Artist (Teishitsu Gigeiin) in 1896.

Reference:
Splendors of Imperial Japan: Arts of the Meiji Period from the Khalili Collection, by J. Earle, 2002 cat. no. 185.

Meiji no Takara 明治の宝 Treasures of Imperial Japan, the Nasser D. Khalili Collection, the Kibo Foundation 1995, Metalwork Part II, no. 84.

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This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance