**Originally Listed At $400**

East Asia, Japan, Edo to Meiji Period, ca. mid-19th to early 20th century CE. A fine pair of wood and silk cord inro boxes with attached agate stone ojime and wood netsukes, and a separate wood netsuke in the form of a man. Inros, "seal baskets," held seals and medicines, and netsukes were used as toggles to stop the cord on which inro were suspended from the traditional sash (obi) that wraps around the kimono. The larger features a large lychee fruit inro with an agate ojime toggle as well as an ovoid bowl-shaped netsuke with bamboo incised on the side. The other inro is a tubular bamboo and wood box with a partial white glass ojime bead and bamboo toggle. The single netsuke of the man is drilled laterally for suspension, and he is crouching on all fours; his bald head is elongated over his back. Size (lychee inro w/ cord): 9" L (22.9 cm); (lychee inro box): 3.75" L x 2.25" W (9.5 cm x 5.7 cm); (netsuke man): 1.5" L x 0.75" W x 1.25" H (3.8 cm x 1.9 cm x 3.2 cm); (ovoid inro w/ cord): 5.75" L (14.6 cm); (inro box): 1.8" L x 1.5" W (4.6 cm x 3.8 cm)

Provenance: private Monument, Colorado, USA collection, acquired in the 1950s

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#167788

Wood netsuke on lychee inro is repaired from several pieces with loss to one side and gaps along break lines; these break lines are visible, and the netsuke is fragile. Lychee inro has a chip and abrasion to tip, otherwise intact. Ovoid box inro is intact and very good. Remains of black charcoal contents inside the box. Minor exterior surface abrasions and loss to glass ojime bead. Lone man netsuke has a small pressure fissure, but is intact and very good with great patina.