As part of our Japanese works of art collection we are delighted to offer this incredibly rare Meiji Period (1868-1912) pure gold cigarette case by arguably the most famous metalworker of the period, Unno Shomin 1844-1915. Here Shomin has skilfully chiselled a scene of a boat upon a lake within a mountainous backdrop, to the shore a pavilion rests upon a rocky outcrop beneath the pine trees. Shomin has utilised angled chisels in a technique refered to as Katakiribori to simply represent ink brush painting. The case comes complete with its original retailers box with a label that translates to a shop in Tokyo called Sanoya, Nihonbashi Ningyo-cho Telephone: (66) 0481. An incredibly rare example of gold metalwork from one of only a handful of luminary Imperial metalworkers of the period.Literature :Unno Shomin is perhaps the most famous of the generation of metalworkers who started their careers in the sword-fitting workshops of the Mito fief; he moved to nearby Tokyo in the early...