A set of five small Sencha Tea Cups decorated with a leaf inside, a verse of four archaic characters outside enclosed in the original signed wooden box dated Showa 3 (1928).They are 4.5 cm (just less than 2 inches) diameter, 2.5 cm (1 inch) tall and in excellent condition.
Irie Shikai was born in Fukuoka prefecture in 1862, the son of an upper level samurai retainer. He studied Nanga and Chinese style painting under Yoshitsugu Haizan and Daiju Ekizan among others. Eschewing the contemporary trend to exhibit and paint for the major National Juried exhibitions, he remained outside the mainstream. For more on this artist see Literati Modern, Bunjinga from late Edo to 20th century Japan, Honolulu, 2008
