Catalog: Popular Collectibles: Cultural: Japanese: Lacquer (1)

A box for keeping incense – kogo – decorated with a carriage used by court nobles and members of the Imperial family of the past in dense gold dust sprinkle on a black lacquer background. The sky sprinkled with clouds of nashiji. Insides with dense nashiji. The bottom section decorated with a rock surrounded by bamboo in gold togidashi and kao of tea master Hisada Soya. Silver rims.

Tiny signature in gold lacquer on the bottom: Gaho.

The kogo was made for the tea master Hisada Soya for the use in the tea ceremony.

Kyoto, Japan, April 1994.

H ca 0.75 in. x Diam ca 3.4 in.

Comes with a double storage box. The outer lacquered in reddish brown. Paper label on the inside of the cover: A kogo (incense box) with a beloved Imperial carriage in makie, in imitation of an hinoki suzuribako possessed by Rikyu to commemorate the 1200th anniversary of the founding of the capital Heian in April 1994
Hanshôan Jingyûsai Sôya (Urasenke Tea master of the Hisada family)

The inner box signed on the bottom “Kyoto, Gaho”, and with artist’s seal “Gaho” and inscribed on the inside of the cover: Made by Gaho, Imperial carriage, kogo, Jingyusai.

Maehata Gahō (b. 1936) is a traditional Japanese lacquer artist who is well-known for making traditional, high-quality utensils for the Japanese tea ceremony, incorporating Rimpa school motifs in his lacquer works. He is the first son of Maehata Shunsai and the eighth head of the Maehata household. He received his training in lacquered tea utensils from Murata Dōkan, ishiji-nuri lacquer from Nakamura Chokan, and Kaga Maki-e from Hoya Bisei.

Hantokoan Jingyûsai Hisada Sôya (1925-2010) was the 12th tea master of the Hisada family in the Urasenke school tradition.