Lot 204 , A Japanese lacquer portable shrine (zushi), 19th century, 25cm high, Provenance - A. T. Arber-Cooke

A Japanese lacquer portable shrine (zushi), 19th century, of peach form opening to reveal a female immortal protected by nine dragons, the peach supported by a curled lotus leaf, the circular base carved with waves, 25cm high, Provenance - A. T. Arber-Cooke
Estimate £200-300

Flaking to the lacquer around the perimeter of the back panel, top and side panels, blister to lacquer on top, losses to lacquer on the edges of the drawer dividers, some 'fence' panels lacking, split or re-stuck, the steps are in fact drawer fronts, the lower set missing two ridge shaped handles, one other drawer lacks a handle.

Provenance - Alfred Theodore Arber-Cooke (c.1905-1993); thence by family descent. Arber-Cooke was an antiquarian and avid collector of Asian works of art, and antiquities principally collecting from the 1930s to the 1970s. He amassed a good reference library on Chinese & Asian coins and wrote on several occasions (1969-70) to to the academic F.A. Turk regarding the study of coin amulets and other non-currency coinages of China. A number of the Asian numismatic reference books will be offered in our 29th March sale.

Arber-Cooke initially lived in Wimbledon, Greater London and was involved with the Surrey Archaeological Society. He wrote the book 'Old Wimbledon', with a foreword the MP Sir Arthur Fell, published in 1927. He later moved to Llandovery in Carmarthenshire, Wales, again involved with local archaeology and wrote the History of Llandovery, published in 1975.


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Sold for £1,400