Inkan Box "Late Summer" by Gaku GOTO

A small cabinet for personal seals. Every face of the black lacquer case is set with a panel framed by a narrow pinned border. In each, tall grasses in iron and gilded iron cross over a ground of cloth soaked in lacquer, which leaves the weave of the fabric visible. A grasshopper sits among the blades on each side, and three dragonflies hover across the top. The front panel lifts away by a beetle-shaped pull in shibuichi and silver, revealing two plain wood drawers. Each drawer has a shibuichi butterfly handle with details in silver and gold. With its tomobako, inscribed "Chokin Inbako" on the lid and titled "Banka" (Late Summer) on the inside, signed Gaku and sealed.

GOTO Gaku was a Japanese metal artist who worked in chokin, the art of chased and inlaid metal. His range of materials matches this box: hammered iron with silver inlay, bronze and shibuichi with gold and silver, and copper with cloth-pattern inlay. He often gave his works seasonal titles. His work is held by the National Crafts Museum in Tokyo and by the Takamatsu Art Museum.

Compare:

• GOTO Gaku, Flower vase, hammered iron with silver inlay, 1962, National Crafts Museum, Tokyo

• GOTO Gaku, Chased ornamental vase with butterflies, copper with nunome inlay, c. 1955, Takamatsu Art Museum