context: lacquerwork > artists

an inro imitating a heavily patinated ancient bronze bell

Ogawa Haritsu aka Ritsuo, 1663-1747

Ritsuo was a student of Ogata Korin in lacquerwork - as well as a Tosa-schooled painter according to Jahss and Dean, or Kano school per Okada, a metalworker and woodcarver, a potter (allegedly studied under Kenzan - doubted by Okada, but not by Hutt) and a poet (studied under Basho!) - indeed he was a renowned, famous poet before he took up lacquer, which is where he made his lasting mark. He produced a lot of wonderful work, especially inro, but his most impressive trick was producing lacquer that imitated other materials. There's something delightfully meta and playful in covering wood with lacquer to closely imitate other wood, for example, but he was best known for his ink cake simulacra (there is a Zeshin example of this a few pages on from here). My favourite is the breathtaking work pictured here, where he mimics in lacquer the look of an ancient bronze temple bell.

backwards: tsuchisa soetsu

forwards: toyo iizuka