ATTRIBUTED TO ISHIBASHI SŌJIRŌ (HEISHŪSAI) 石橋平秀齋　推定 (1847–1918) INRŌ (MEDICINE CASE) WITH BLUE-LACQUER GROUND 菊に蝶図蒔絵青漆印籠Meiji (1868–1912) or Taisho (1912–1926) era, late 19th–early 20th centuryWith two interlocking cases and cover, the flattened hexagonal body covered in ultramarine-blue lacquer embellished with gold hirame, decorated in gold and coloured togidashi maki-e with three butterflies and chrysanthemums, the interior gold nashiji; unsigned; with a bone ojime 5.4cm (2⅛in) highProvenance:Edward Gilbertson Collection, no. 5065W. L. Behrens Collection, no. 208Nairn CollectionLt. Col. J. B. Gaskell Collection, no. 586F. A. Richards Collection, sold at Sotheby's, 1964Victor Topper CollectionEskenazi Ltd., London, 1982Wrangham Collection, no. 1612Sold in these Rooms, 10 November 2015, lot 131Published:Glendining and Co. 1913–4, no. 208, pl. XXIJoly and Tomita 1916, no. 201, pl. LXXXVIInternational Netsuke Society Journal 2012, p.38注脚This and two other recorded blue-lacquered inrō are discussed by Else and Heinz Kress in the International Netsuke Society Journal cited above, pp. 34–39. Of the three in the article, the only signed specimen is in the Garrett collection, Evergreen House, Baltimore, illustrated by Davey and Tripp 1993, p. 208, no. 209 (there, the signature is mistransliterated as Taira Shusai). The third example is in the collection of Heinz and Else Kress. A fourth recently discovered example, not mentioned in the article, was sold in these Rooms, 12 May 2016, lot 279. Each inrō depicts flowers and butterflies in a manner similar to the present example.