A Japanese embelished lacquer bottle with the original stopper.

B81 / L61

Lacquer, deep-red, embellished with mother-of-pearl, coral, malachite and horn and painted with gold and multicoloured lacquer to create the scene of children at play in a garden, with an elegant lady standing in front of a large screen, with a stork standing in water below; the reverse with two children making tea.

Japanese, early 20th Century
Stopper: Matching and original lacquer
Seal: Qianlong nian zhi
Provenance: C.John
George A. Cohen
Published: Item 367 'In Search of Netsuke and Inro', by George A. Cohen
Height: 9.2cm

At some point in the late 19th Century Japanese workshops began to expand their repertoire to include snuff bottles. This was due to the demand from Western collectors and this example is typical of the work produced.