A FINE TSUISHU THREE-CASE LACQUER INRO DEPICTING CONFUCIUS MEETING WITH LAO TZU

A FINE TSUISHU THREE-CASE LACQUER INRO DEPICTING CONFUCIUS MEETING WITH LAO TZU
Unsigned
Japan, 18th-19th century, Edo period (1615-1868)
The three-case inro of rounded upright form and oval section, lacquered in tsuishu (carved red lacquer) and finely worked in high relief depicting Confucius's meeting with Lao Tzu. Confucius depicted receiving a set of scrolls from Lao Tzu, who has retired to a life of asceticism, as he sits on a craggy rock under a pine tree. The landscape with high peaks detailed in black lacquer, all beneath finely carved pine trees. The verso carved with a departing Confucius seated within a carriage drawn by horses and surrounded by his students curious to know what their master has learnt. The details carefully carved in relief and the sides incised with guri lacquer swirls. The interior compartments lacquered in black.
HEIGHT 8.7 cm, LENGTH 5.6 cm
Condition: Very good condition with minor wear and tiny losses along the edges.
Provenance:
Norton Gallery, London, 13 November 1957. Collection of Robert and Isabelle de Strycker, acquired from the above, and thence by descent within the same family. An old collector's label, 'N 289 bis.' Robert de Strycker (1903-1968) was a French engineer who specialized in metallurgy. He was a Stanford graduate, a professor at the University of Leuven, a director of the Institute of Metallurgy at the Université Catholique de Louvain, and one of the most influential members of the faculty of applied sciences. After World War II, he made large contributions to France's post-war recovery. Robert and his wife Isabelle (1915-2010) first encountered Chinese art at the British Museum during a stay in London in the 1930s. Enamored with the style and beauty, they both decided to study and collect Chinese works of art. In 1938 they eventually began to build their collection, buying from Belgian, Parisian, and English dealers. They kept close contact with the famous English collector Sir Harry Garner (1891-1977) and noted Czech collector and expert Fritz Low-Beer (1906-1976). In 1964, the couple lent 174 objects from their collection to the Belgian city of Leuven's museum for an exhibition titled Oude kunst in Leuvens Privébezit ('Old Art in Private Collections in Leuven'), and in 1967 they lent around thirty Japanese objects to the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels for their exhibition Kunst van Japan im belgischen Privatverzameingen ('Japanese Art in Belgian Private Collections').