30. * SHIBATA ZESHIN (1807-1891) A Lacquered and Rattan-Textured Kashibako (Confectionery Box) Meiji era (1868-1912), circa 1880-1891 The exterior, underside, and interior of the box lacquered and finished to resemble woven bamboo and decorated in iro-e takamaki-e with two aubergines on the sides, the design of the larger aubergine continuing down onto the underside, the lid covered with black-lacquered hemp to simulate cloth, signed inside the lid in gold lacquer Zeshin; with a wood tomobako storage box inscribed on the outside of the lid, Zeshin-ō saku, nasu maki-e kashiki (Maki-e confectionary box with aubergine design made by the venerable Zeshin), the inside of the lid with an inscription by Shōji Hōshin, Zeshin's grandson, attesting this box as a work by Zeshin, dated summer, Showa 51 (1976), signed Shōji Hōshin kan (Examined by Shōji Hōshin) with seal Hōshin 6,5 x 16 x 9,5cm (3). A similarly lacquered aubergine design on an incense container by Zeshin, is published and illustrated by the Miho Museum, Maki-e hyakka ryōran: Edo jidai no meikō to sono keifu (The Maki-e Masters: Their Edo-Period Flowering), exhibition catalogue, Kōka City, Shiga Prefecture, Miho Museum, 2023, p.111, no.135.