Inro, inlaid lacquer Quails and Owl in a cage, Japan, 19th century

AN IMPRESSIVE AND VERY LARGE TWO-CASE INLAID LACQUER ‘QUAILS AND OWL IN A CAGE’ INRO Unsigned Japan, 18th-19th century, Edo period (1615-1868) Of exceptionally large, broad rectangular form and oval section, ingeniously conceived as a birdcage, bearing a black-lacquered ground finely decorated in gold, silver, and iro-e takamaki-e and hiramaki-e, richly inlaid with mother-of-pearl and enriched with gold foil.

The shimmering vertical cage bars divide the decoration into narrow registers, enclosing on one side a large owl with staring inlaid eyes and finely delineated plumage, while the reverse depicts a pair of quails nestled closely together, their feathers meticulously worked in contrasting textures. The lower section is encircled by a broad gold-lacquer band finely decorated with scrolling foliage and scattered aogai flowerheads, while the red-lacquered uprights and latticework across the top complete the illusion of an elaborate birdcage. The interior cases are finished in nashiji with gold fundame rims, the lower compartment notably much deeper than the upper.

The inro is accompanied by an unusually large tsuishu lacquer ojime deeply carved with pomegranates amid dense foliage, and a large tsuishu lacquer kagamibuta netsuke carved with figural decoration and inset with a silver plate depicting Hotei holding a fan. The generously proportioned fittings are particularly well suited to the monumental scale of the inro. HEIGHT 11.8 cm, LENGTH 11.5 cm (inro) LENGTH 4.6 cm (netsuke) Provenance: The Dorothy Ann Stevens Collection of Fine Netsuke & Inro, formed between the 1940s and 1960s. With an old handwritten collector label affixed to the interior of the top case, inscribed with the collection number 513 and indicating a purchase date of 2 June 1950 from Glendining & Co, London.

The wife of the chemist, artist, and collector Henry Potter Stevens (1875-1965), she formed an extensive collection of netsuke, inro, and smoking accessories. Each acquisition was carefully documented, assigned an individual inventory number, and subjected to scholarly study. Many objects in the collection were acquired on the London art market during the 1940s and 1950s, including works with distinguished earlier provenances.

Preserved within the Stevens family for more than half a century, her collection constitutes a significant and well-documented record of the collecting and study of Japanese miniature arts during this period. traces of handling and use, and light rubbing to lacquer. The ingenious birdcage design of the present inro reflects the widespread culture of birdkeeping in Edo-period Japan. Birds were kept both for their appearance and their song, with elaborately fashioned cages becoming decorative objects in their own right. The inclusion of an owl is particularly unusual: owls are rarely encountered in the context of Japanese birdcage imagery, which more commonly features quails and smaller songbirds.

Its large staring eyes and imposing form lend the composition a strikingly unexpected character, contrasting with the pair of diminutive quails nestled together on the reverse. The artist has cleverly transformed the entire inro into the cage itself, the shimmering mother-of-pearl bars extending across both faces and visually enclosing the birds within. The exceptional scale of the present work further distinguishes it from conventional inro. At 11.8 cm high and 10.8 cm wide, with a markedly deeper lower compartment, it was likely conceived as a storage inro, capable of accommodating substantially more than an ordinary portable medicine case.

Its unusually large ojime and kagamibuta netsuke were evidently selected to complement these monumental proportions, resulting in a remarkably imposing and visually coherent ensemble.