context: lacquerwork > artists

an early 19th Century inro by a Kyuhaku

Koma family

Eleven generations of the Koma family worked for the Shogun and court from Koma Kyui (1600-1663) in 1636 well into the 19th Century. There are dozens of Koma artists known, including at least seven who went by Kyuhaku, and three by Kansai - Kansai II was the teacher of the great Shibata Zeshin. They produced flat, wide inro in a refined style, with magnificent technique. Their one innovation was clever use of metallic powders to give different colours depending on the angle of viewing. The inro shown here is one of my favourites ever, a beautifully subdued image of performers through screen doors.

backwards: kajikawa family

forwards: tsuchisa soetsu