Style of Ogawa Haritsu (1663-1747)An inlaid-lacquer box and coverEdo period (1615-1868), 19th centuryThe rectangular wood box with edge cut in ittobori style and decorated in red and brown takamaki-e and creamic inlays, on the cover with Daruma (Bodhidharma) looking out through a hole in the wall of a temple, an incense burner on a rootwood table in the background, all against a gold-lacquer ground, the interior of the box with a continuous design of a mokugyo (Buddhist wooden bell) and striker resting on a cushion by a nyoi scepter and a rat by a hossu (ritual fly whisk) while another rat watches from above in a hole in the wall, in iro-e takamaki-e, togidashi maki-e, ceramic inlays, and inlaid silver and gold hirame on a roiro-nuri ground, inscribed on the underside of the cover Gyonen hachiju o Muchuan tsukuru (Made by Muchuan at the age of 81) and with ceramic seal Kan, pewter rims and fundame edges 11 1/16 x 7 3/4 x 2in (28 x 19.5 x 5cm)注脚ProvenanceMichael Tomkinson collectionPublishedE. Gilbertson, et al., A Japanese Collection Made by Michael Tomkinson, London, 1898, Lacquer, no. 643 (vol. 2, p. 44)Edmund J. Lewis and Joe Earle, Shadows and Reflections: Japanese Lacquer Art from the Collection of Edmund J. Lewis at the Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1996, cat. no. 27, pg. 74Although it bears the age-dated signature and seal of Ogawa Haritsu (Ritsuo), the style and technique of this well-known box—formerly in the vast collection of the Victorian British connoisseur Michael Tomkinson—is very likely a product of the revival of the Haritsu/Ritsuo style that took place in the middle years of the nineteenth century.