The Ingrams in Japan
A story about Sir Herbert and Lady Ingram’s honeymoon in Japan, where they collected hundreds of objects now in the Ashmolean’s collection.
After leaving Miyanoshita, the Ingrams returned to Kyoto where there was more 'curio' hunting to be done. Some fine pieces of lacquer were bought from The Benten, a shop in Shinmonzen, one of the 'antique' streets in the centre of the city. These items were among them:
Kōgō, or incense box, with feathers (EA1956.1803)
Kōgō, or incense box, with hare amid tokusa grass (EA1956.1798)
The second of the two dealers who took up Mr Ingram's hunt for Satsuma pottery was called Uenishi. He was quickly on the scene again in Kyoto and managed to sell the Ingrams a lot of 'old' pieces at inflated prices. None of those we have been able to identify was more than 30 years old and some were almost brand new. It was he who appears to have rubbed the signatures from a few of the pieces, which might have given away their age.
Satsuma vase with birds and flowers (EA1956.2017.a)
Detail of Satsuma vase with birds and flowers (EA1956.2017.a), This shows how the signature has been rubbed away.
Uenishi must have followed the party around for on a side trip to Nagoya, a city at the centre of the cloisonné production, he crops up again and finally reappeared on their last leg in Tokyo producing assorted lacquer and ceramics. One has to admire his tenacity, if not his ethics.
© 2013 University of Oxford - Ashmolean Museum