A wild design of three small bean shaped boxes enclosed in a dynamic long bean pod decorated with colored lacquer and mother of pear inlay by Nagai Yasuo. The outer box is 43 × 12 × 7.8 cm (17 inches long), the beans themselves are 9.5 × 6.5 × 5 cm (roughly 4 x 2-1/2 x 2 inches) and all is in excellent condition. These are made in the Kanshitsu or dry lacquer technique, whereby cloth is covered in layers of lacquer allowing for free form shapes limited only by the imagination.
Nagai Yasuo was born in Aichi prefecture in 1945, and graduated the Takamatsu School of Crafts lacquer department in 1964, receiving top prize for his work. He began exhibiting with the Nihon Craft Ten (National Crafts Exhibition) in 1981, and three years running from 1981-1983 his work was featured in solo exhibitions at the Aichi Prefectural Museum. From 1983 he expanded to exhibit with the progressive Asahi Craft Exhibition. He earned gold at the 1989Takaoka Craft Competition. Nagai states: I consider "items for and inspiration from daily life" as the premise for my creations. From there, I explore the freedom of form achievable through kanshitsu.
