by Heinz and Else Kress in cooperation with Alain Briot
Published in December 2022
Text and captions in English
This introduces the book Gazu hyakkacho (One hundred drawings of flowers and birds) published in the Edo period, and a set of 100 inro based on the drawings and produced by the master maki-e artisan Koma Yasutada (?-1758).
This inro set is considered a gift from the 9th shogun Tokugawa Ieshige (1711-1761) to the lord of Kano domain of the Mino province, and today the inro are scattered around the world. In this book, the photos of some of the inro or related items are shown and explained together with relevant drawings from Gazu hyakkacho.
Mr. and Mrs. Heinz and Else Kress are lacquer
researchers who have examined and photographed
the inro collections of museums and individuals
around the world. They have created an archive of
some 39000 inro. They also have studied a
great deal of related publications. Just as in this book,
they always share their vast knowledge on those
subjects generously in their writings!
In addition, Mr. Alan Briot’s great input, particularly
on Japanese fauna, flora and language, has made
this book a wonderful source of information.
Price is 100 Euros and shipping cost of some 30 Euros.
For purchase, please contact Mr. Heinz Kress by email:
heinz-else.kress@pp.inet.fi
Book cover, Else and Heinz Kress, and Alain Briot, 2023
If you are interested in Japanese lacquerware,
I highly recommend The Book of Urushi that
I co-translated with Michael Brase (available
at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, or Amazon.co.jp).
For details, please read my posts on its original
Japanese version and the English translation!
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