{"product_id":"iwamatsue-maki-e-large-natsume-by-yamazaki-toshiharu-gold-lacquer-tea-caddy-nashiji-interior-tomobako","title":"Iwamatsue Maki-e Large Natsume by Yamazaki Toshiharu — Gold Lacquer Tea Caddy, Nashiji Interior, Tomobako","description":"Experience Authentic Japan Art with this Japanese Lacquer Tea Caddy (Natsume). This Maki-e Lacquerware serves as a Tea Ceremony Utensil and Chado Collectible, featuring Gold Makie Lacquer and Iwamatsue Pine Motif—a must-have for any Art Collector seeking Antique Japanese Tea Ceremony pieces and Traditional Urushi Lacquer craftsmanship.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ BASIC DETAILS ]\u003cbr\u003e• Artist: Yamazaki Toshiharu (山崎敏春), signed and sealed on tomobako lid\u003cbr\u003e• Technique: Iwamatsue Maki-e (岩松蒔絵) — raised gold lacquer depicting wind-swept pine on rocky shore with cresting waves; nashiji (pear-skin gold) interior\u003cbr\u003e• Era: Late Showa to Heisei period (estimated 1970s–1990s)\u003cbr\u003e• Origin: Japan\u003cbr\u003e• Form: Ō-natsume (大棗) — large tea caddy for koicha or usucha presentations\u003cbr\u003e• Dimensions: Diameter 7.4 cm × Height 7.5 cm\u003cbr\u003e• Box: Tomobako (artist's own wooden box) with ink inscription and seal\u003cbr\u003e• Cloth: Tomobuno (artist's own wrapping cloth) included\u003cbr\u003e• Condition: Very good. No notable scratches or chips. Surface retains full lacquer depth and gold brilliance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ CULTURAL \u0026amp; ARTISTIC INSIGHT ]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHistorical Context\u003cbr\u003eThe natsume takes its name from the jujube fruit whose shape it mirrors — a compact, rounded caddy that sits quietly on the palm before being carried to the tatami. Among tea caddies, the ō-natsume occupies a decisive place: large enough to hold a full portion of matcha for a gathering, yet intimate enough to pass between hands without ceremony. Within the lineage of Chanoyu, it is a vessel that moves — from mizuya to tokonoma, from shelf to guest and back — and its decoration is therefore read from every angle, in every light.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIwamatsue — pine rooted in stone — has been a canonical motif in Japanese decorative arts since the Heian period. It stands for endurance: not the softness of the plum or the transience of the cherry, but something older and harder. Pine does not flower. It holds. On this natsume, the artist has rendered the pine not as a symbol but as a scene: clouds gather along the lid's dome, the shoreline surges with wave-cut patterns at the base, and the pine itself arcs across the shoulder of the piece in a composition that reads as continuous — landscape without horizon, time without interruption.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTechnique \u0026amp; Aesthetic\u003cbr\u003eThe ground lacquer is a deep kuro-roiro (black-mirror lacquer) warmed by the addition of bengara (iron-oxide red), which gives the surface its characteristic amber-black depth. Into this ground the artist has laid the Iwamatsue design using a combination of togidashi-e (polished-out maki-e, for the wave and water passages) and taka-maki-e (raised maki-e, for the pine foliage and rock forms). The diagonal check pattern — kōshi-gumi — applied to the rock faces in kirikane-style gold squares adds geometric restraint against the organic sweep of the clouds and waves. The interior is nashiji: a field of gold flakes suspended at different depths beneath transparent lacquer, producing a shifting luminosity that catches the matcha's color when the lid is lifted.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePoetic Line\u003cbr\u003e— Pine in stone. Waves below. The lid lifts, and what was landscape becomes vessel, and what was vessel becomes the whole of a season held in two hands.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ DEEP-DIVE COMMENTARY ]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn the Motif\u003cbr\u003eIwamatsue — pine growing from rock — is a paired motif of endurance and rootedness. In Chinese and Japanese painting alike, the pine at the cliff's edge represents the scholar who holds his position regardless of pressure. By the Momoyama period, when Chanoyu was taking its refined form under Sen no Rikyu and his patrons, the pine motif had migrated fully into the lacquer arts. Natsume decorated with pine-and-wave compositions were documented in Edo-period tea records as appropriate for autumn gatherings, particularly those held near water or on occasions marking long friendship. This natsume carries that encoded meaning.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn the Waves\u003cbr\u003eThe wave rendering on the lower body uses a fine line-incision technique — thin parallel arcs scored through the gold-dusted surface — that creates rhythm without rigidity. This is seigaiha (blue-green sea) wave in its simplified iteration: not the dramatic crashing wave of the Rinpa school, but a measured, repeating surge that suggests the endlessness of the sea rather than any particular storm. It is background that holds the pine in contrast. The pine climbs; the water moves; the piece breathes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn the Kōshi-gumi (Grid Pattern on Rock)\u003cbr\u003eThe diagonal gold-square pattern applied to the rock surfaces is one of the more technically demanding passages on this piece. Each small square — kirikane-style, cut from gold foil and placed individually — must sit flat against the curved body of the natsume while maintaining even spacing. The pattern functions as a formalization of stone texture: not naturalistic, but a convention that any trained eye in the tea world immediately reads as rock, as weight, as ground. It is the anchor of the composition.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn the Nashiji Interior\u003cbr\u003eNashiji — literally pear-skin ground — is among the most honored lacquer grounds in Japanese aesthetics. The gold flakes are sieved to a fine, irregular grain, scattered into wet lacquer, allowed to dry, then covered with transparent lacquer and polished until the surface is smooth. The flakes sit at different depths, producing a depth effect that cannot be achieved by any surface application. When matcha dust lies in the bowl of this natsume, it sits against a ground that already shimmers. The two golds — matte green-gold of the matcha, warm yellow-gold of the nashiji — speak to each other across the inside of the piece.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn Yamazaki Toshiharu\u003cbr\u003eYamazaki Toshiharu worked in the tradition of Kyoto maki-e through the late Showa and Heisei periods. His tomobako — the wooden box made and inscribed by the artist's own hand — is evidence of a maker who considered the total presentation of his work. The inscription on the lid reads 岩松蒔絵 棗 (Iwamatsue Maki-e Natsume), and his personal seal is impressed below the signature. The inclusion of tomobuno (the artist's wrapping cloth) further signals that this piece was made as a considered object, not as production ware.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ 日本語解説 ]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e基本情報\u003cbr\u003e• 作者：山崎敏春（共箱蓋表に署名・落款あり）\u003cbr\u003e• 技法：岩松蒔絵（金の高蒔絵と研出蒔絵の組み合わせ）、内側は梨地仕上げ\u003cbr\u003e• 時代：昭和後期〜平成期（推定）\u003cbr\u003e• 産地：日本\u003cbr\u003e• 形状：大棗（薄茶器、棚飾り・茶会用）\u003cbr\u003e• 寸法：直径7.4cm × 高さ7.5cm\u003cbr\u003e• 付属品：共箱・共布\u003cbr\u003e• 状態：良好。目立つ傷・欠け・汚れなし。漆の深みと金の輝きを完全に保持。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e文化・芸術的考察\u003cbr\u003e棗はナツメの実に似た丸みある形から名を持つ薄茶器で、大棗は茶会・棚飾りに用いられる格のある品です。岩松蒔絵は「岩に根を張る松」を題材とし、平安以来の伝統文様。この棗には松・霞・波涛が全面を流れる構図が施され、蓋の丸みを活かした連続した景色として読めます。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e地漆は黒呂色（朱合漆系）で、独特の琥珀がかった深みを持ちます。岩部分の格子状の金箔（切金風）が幾何学的な節度をもたらし、有機的な松・波の流れと対比を形成。梨地内側は金粉を漆中に沈めた技法で、透明漆を重ねて磨くことで生まれる深い輝きが、茶碗に移す抹茶の色と呼応します。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e作者・山崎敏春は共箱・共布を付けて作品を仕立てる丁寧な作り手で、箱蓋表の「岩松蒔絵 棗」という書き付けと落款がその誠実さを示しています。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e詩的一行\u003cbr\u003e—— 岩に根をはる松。波は繰り返す。蓋を開ければ、景色は器となり、器は季節となる。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ SHIPPING \u0026amp; PACKAGING ]\u003cbr\u003e• Dispatch: Within 1-6 business days\u003cbr\u003e• Carrier: Japan Post EMS \/ UPS (with tracking)\u003cbr\u003e• Packaging: Carefully wrapped with protective materials","brand":"The Modern Zen Archive","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":61869967180146,"sku":"260522_a_2874","price":4385.0,"currency_code":"AED","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0960\/5680\/3698\/files\/m38233870742_1.jpg?v=1779418219","url":"https:\/\/checkout.themodernzenarchive.com\/products\/iwamatsue-maki-e-large-natsume-by-yamazaki-toshiharu-gold-lacquer-tea-caddy-nashiji-interior-tomobako","provider":"The Modern Zen Archive","version":"1.0","type":"link"}