A SUZURIBAKO [WRITING-BOX]

EDO PERIOD (18TH CENTURY)

Details

A SUZURIBAKO [WRITING-BOX]
Edo Period (18th Century)
Of elongated rectangular form; black lacquer ground; background and underside decorated in gold hirame; decoration in gold, aokin and silver hiramaki-e and takamaki-e with details in gold e-nashiji and foil mosaic with silver dewdrops; the edges in gold lacquer with decoration in gold hiramaki-e; interior in similar techniques with gold and silver togidashi-e; the side and rims of the ink-stone and interior frame gold lacquer, the box and lid edged in lead; the water-dropper of gilded copper with silver dewdrops

Exterior with a vertically-oriented design of maple leaves floating in the Tatsuta River which flows between two overhanging maple trees; interior of both box and lid with rocks and waves; water-dropper modelled as a stylised rock amid waves
2 x 7.3/8 x 10in. (5.0 x 18.7 x 26.8cm.)

Provenance

Jan Dees Collection

Lot Essay

This very popular subject owes its origin to a waka [31-syllable poem] by the great ninth-century poet Ariwara no Narihira which celebrates the Tatsuta River in autumn1:

Chihayaburu Tatsuta River -
kamiyo mo kikazu even when gods walked the earth
Tatsutagawa never have I heard
karakurenai ni your waters were as crimson
mizu kukuru to wa as if soaked in Chinese dye.

The Tatsuta River theme is often accompanied by the Tsuta no hosomichi [Narrow ivy path], another episode from the life of Narihira, which may have appeared on the ryoshibako [paper-box] originally accompanying this piece2.

1 Saeki Umetomo (ed.), Kokinwakashu [A Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern] (Tokyo, 1958), no. 294

2 Kyoto Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan [Kyoto National Museum], Nihon no isho [Japanese Classical Literature as the Theme in Crafts] (Kyoto, 1978), no. 102

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