SHIBATA ZESHIN 柴田是真 (1807–1891) ZANSAISAGE OR TONKOTSU (CONTAINER FOR FOOD SCRAPS) WITH A STABLE AT NIGHT 夜の厩図蒔絵残菜提Meiji era (1868–1912), 1880sA zansaisage (container for food scraps) with dark green seidō-nuri ground, decorated in gold and coloured hiramaki-e, takamaki-e, and other techniques, and with mother-of-pearl; on one side, a horse emerging from a broken-down stable to eat or drink from a wood pail hung from the branch of a willow tree, the tree continuing onto the reverse; the lid of plain wood; the interior with seidō-nuri ground; the lacquered netsuke in the form of a broken-off piece of ink decorated in relief with musical instruments; the zansaisage and netsuke both signed Zeshin 是真 in incised charactersZansaisage: 5.1cm × 6.5cm × 3.4cm (2in × 2½in × 1⅛in)Netsuke: 3cm x 2.6cm x 1cm (1⅛in x 1in x ⅜in)With unrelated wood storage box (2)Provenance:Baron Gō Seinosuke (1865–1942) Collection郷誠之助旧蔵Grace Tsumugi Fine Art, London 2013, cat. no. 22Published:Nihon Netsuke Kenkyūkai 2003注脚This outstanding zansaisage was formerly in the collection of the businessman Baron Gō Seinosuke, best known in the art world for the collection of netsuke which he donated to Tokyo National Museum. Of senior samurai origin, he studied in Germany and on his return built an industrial conglomerate based on mining, paper, and clothing. He later served as Chairman of the Tokyo Stock Exchange and was appointed to the House of Peers in 1911. For another similar example, see Link, 1979, cat. no. 64.A design similar to this, but with the horse already eating or drinking from the bucket, is included in a collection of surimono (privately commissioned prints) by Zeshin, entitled Zeshin ga sōsho (Collected paintings by Zeshin) and dating from the Kaei era (1848–1854) to the Meiji era, in the National Diet Library (call number ゑ-258); a related zansaisage or tonkotsu is in the Honolulu Academy of Arts.Zeshin was fond of depicting broken-down buildings in both painting and lacquer, particularly in designs alluding to the penurious Chinese scholar Shain (Chinese: Che Yin). For examples, see Izzard 2007, cat. no. 40 and Earle and Gōke 1996, cat. no. 49).