JEWELLERY, ANTIQUE & ART AUCTION Tuesday, 25 February 2020 - 10:00 AM start

A Japanese Meiji period boxwood and ivory okimono of two swordsmiths

Lot Details

they work a katana blade on an anvil beside a box bellows forge. Two character signature and two character seal mark on red lacquer inlaid tablets inset to the plinth base. Some faults. 370 x 250 x 205mm. Provenance: The collection of Walter Kendal Tresize (UK/Japan 1859 – 1919). Tresize arrived in Japan from Cornwall in 1885, probably as a sailor and was subsequently employed as Chief Engineer on the Sagami-maru for the newly founded Japan Mail Steam Ship Co. (Nippon Yūsen Kaisha) and later shore side as Assistant Outdoor Superintendent Engineer and Assistant Manager of the Engine Works Department. In 1887 he married Pamela Buttery Martin, daughter of James Martin, a Yokohama Coal Merchant. In 1894 he was appointed Manager of the Yokohama Engine and Iron Works and held this position until his death in Yokohama. These netsuke and okimono from his collection were bequeathed to his daughter Georgina Ellen Tresize (Japan/USA 1891-1973) and then by descent to our vendor.