Tsuchime Natsume with Flowering Stems by MITSUO

Of classic natsume form, the rounded body rising to a gently domed cover. The ground was carved into the wood before lacquering in a tsuchime pattern of small, shallow facets imitating hammered metal, then finished in ochre lacquer that catches the light across the facets. Slender flowering stems with rows of triangular blossoms are carved in built-up black lacquer (choshitsu) and sweep diagonally over the cover and down the sides, several carried unbroken across the join. The interiors and the base are in plain black lacquer, with the signature at the centre of the base. With tomobako, the lid inscribed "Tsuchime natsume", the inside of the lid signed and sealed.