Two ivory and Shibayama-inlaid card cases and two game counters
Meiji era (1868-1912), late 19th to early 20th centuryEach card case lavishly decorated in typical Shibayama style, the first with inlay details of shibuichi, gilt and tortoiseshell depicting a couple carved in shishiaibori (sunken relief) walking beneath branches of flowering kiri (paulownia), the reverse with a karako (Chinese boy) similarly carved beside a large elaborate basket of ikebana, signed on the base Ono Ryomin with a kao beneath Shibayama within a shell inlaid reserve, 11.4cm (4?in) high; the second card case decorated with a crane foraging for food besides tall stems of bamboo on one side and a pheasant among autumnal plants on the other, unsigned, 10.3cm (4in) high; two matching game counters of rectangular form with Shibayama-inlaid counters decorated with insects and birds; both 6cm x 8.8cm (2 3/8in x 3?in). (4).