Inro with shimmering fish

Inro with shimmering fish is held by Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe (Germany). Description supplied by the holding institution: The slightly bulbous, curved inrô is in two parts and features a concealed cord channel. On one side, a fish swims among algae against a black lacquer background. Inlaid with mother-of-pearl, its eye is accentuated by means of an applied glass bead or crystal splinter. The algae grow across the sides of the rounded inrô to the opposite side. They are partly inlaid in gold and lead, and partly executed in »chinkinbori«, an engraved lacquer technique. The work is unsigned. Mother-of-pearl inlays usually indicate a lacquer master named Chôhei. Comparable inrô, though mostly with inlays in the »tsuishu« technique (carved red lacquer), were frequently signed by a member of the Onko Chôkan workshop. »Inrô« are small containers that were used in Japan initially as seal cases and later primarily as medicine cases. Samurai, wealthy merchants, artists, and craftsmen wore them suspended freely from wide belts (= »obi«) because of their pocketless,… The collection record gives measurements height: 5.0 cm, width: 7.8 cm, depth: 2.7 cm. Published through Europeana; how far this object represents a wider collectible type has not yet been independently verified.