A lacquer suzuribako (box for writing utensils) and cover By Futagi Seiho (1884-1954), Showa era (1926-1989), circa 1930s The inrobuta (flush-fitting lid) with canted corners lacquered in silver, golds and shades of brown and grey hiramaki-e with a squirrel prancing among fruiting vine, trailing over the sides, the interior of the lid and box decorated with a lacquer imitation of a sumi painting with fern on an olive-green lacquer ground, the rims mounted in silver, with a removable frame and baseboard fitted with a suzuri (ink-grinding stone), a gilt-bronze suiteki (water dropper) in the form of a kettle, a pair of writing brushes, a paper pricker, paper knife and a inkstick holder, each fitted with silver fittings and gold-lacquered on the nashiji ground with squares of gold gyobu square flakes to match the sides of the ink-grinding stone, signed in gold lacquer Seiho saku; with a wood tomobako storage box inscribed and signed on the lid Risu suzuribako, Seiho saku (Writing box with squirrel design, made by Seiho) with a seal Seiho; and a tomogire sealed Seiho. 5cm x 27.5cm x 24.3cm (2in x 10 13/16in x 9 9/16in). (12). 注脚 Born in Kanazawa, Futagi Seiho studied under Yamamoto Toshinari, and later with the Ishikawa-based artists Igarashi Doho and Shimizu Kyubei. He exhibited at the Teiten national salon and its successor iterations on 12 occasions between 1928 and 1946.