EDO PERIOD (19TH CENTURY)

The first with three cases, decorated in gold hiramaki-e, takamaki-e, kirikane, with cut-shell and gold foil inlays depicting insects on a woven basket beneath a dense profusion of flowers, nashiji risers and interiors, fundame rims, attached marble ojime

The second with four cases, decorated in Somada style with inlays of cut-shell and gold foil against a black lacquer ground, depicting a lakeside pavillion beside a tall pine tree, the reverse with a further pine, rocks and a distant bank, black lacquer risers, interiors and rims, attached stagantler netsuke of two monkeys carrying a basket, the stagantler ojime variously carved in low relief with flowers and cosmological symbols

The third with four cases, decorated in gold and black hiramaki-e and kimpun on persimmon wood with a cicada, the reverse with a gnarled branch of pine, wood interiors, fundame rims, signed Kajikawa saku (made by Kajikawa), attached silvered and gilt copper ojime in the shape of a fan (uchiwa) with a spray of plum blossom, signed Komin
7.5 cm. (3 in.) high (the first)
9 cm. (3¹⁄₂ in.) high (the second)
8 cm. (3¹⁄₈ in.) high (the third)