山吹蒔絵五段重硯箱|Set of Five Writing Boxes with Japanese Globeflowers, Plum Blossoms, and Interlaced Roundels

Unknown

late 18th–early 19th century · Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e and applied gold foil on nashiji ground · Asian Art

Writing-box sets are used in poetry contests or incense games in which several participants have to write at the same time. The writing boxes are distributed at the beginning of the event and collected at the end. This set of five boxes is housed in an open frame decorated with a landscape with a river and Japanese globeflowers. The lid of the stacked boxes is embellished with a plum-tree branch and brushwood fence, a well-known design from the Tōshōgū (Tokugawa memorial shrine) in Nikkō, where the door of the main shrine is decorated with a similar motif. The sides are embellished with interlaced gold and silver roundels (shippō), an auspicious motif on nashiji (pear skin) ground.

Artist

Unknown

Date

late 18th–early 19th century

Medium

Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e and applied gold foil on nashiji ground

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Bequest of Stephen Whitney Phoenix, 1881