Vase in a curving cylindrical form set on a flaring foot, in a ribbed saguaro cactus motif. Of green colored kanshitsu or dry lacquer inlaid in quail eggshell and seed pearls. Signed on the reverse by the artist: Koho Saku or Made by Koho (Sato Koho, active circa 1930s – 1950s). Early Showa era, circa 1940.

With the tomobako or original storage box, signed on the exterior of the lid: Sato Koho Saku or Made by Sato Koho, and titled: Saboten Mon Kabin or Cactus Design Vase.

A lacquer artist from Oita in Kyushu, Sato Koho was first accepted into the national exhibitions with the 3rd Shin-Bunten in 1939. He showed at the 6th Shin-Bunten in 1943 and after the Pacific War at the 1st Nitten in 1946 as well as at the 3rd Nitten in 1947.

Koho made this playfully abstract cactus vase with immense care. The eggshell is painstakingly inlaid, piece by piece. He then brightened the surface with a scattering of inlaid seed pearls. The union of modernism and fine craftsmanship flourished in Japan as it declined in the rest of the world.