A LACQUER WRITING BOX (SUZURIBAKO)

Details

A LACQUER WRITING BOX (SUZURIBAKO)
edo period (19th century)

Of rectangular shape lacquered on the lid in black and gold with a horse prancing amongst ominaeshi flowers and arching grasses, the body of the horse created in gold and black togidashi, the mane, tail, saddle and stirrups in hiramaki-e and takamaki-e, the centers of the flowers rendered in gold hirame and the stems and grasses in hiramaki-e, all set against a roiro-nuri ground accented with hirame, nashiji and kimpun, the underside of the lid decorated with a line of a poem by Sojo Henjo in sosho script on a black ground applied with hirame and sprinkled with nashiji, the interior ground matching and with two stands of grasses in gold hiramaki-e; fitted with a silver kettle-form mizuire in a gilded saucer and with an inkstone--8 7/8 x 8½ x 1 5/8in. (22.8 x 21.6 x 3.7cm.)

Lot Essay

A riderless horse prancing in a field of ominaeshi (maiden flower) signifies a poem by Bishop Henjo (816-890), one of the "six poetic geniuses" and the grandson of Emperor Kanmu. The poem is from the Kokinshu (Collection of Ancient and Modern Times), an early tenth-century imperial anthology:

Na ni medete
oreru bakari zo
ominaeshi
ware ochiniki to
hito ni kataru na

I plucked you only
because your name entranced me
oh maiden flower
please do not tell all the world
that I have broken my vows. ¹

A phrase from the poem ("na ni medete") is transcribed on the underside of the lid of the writing box. The topic of the poem is unknown but the poet is playing on the meaning of the characters ("maiden flower") with which ominaeshi is written. He alludes to the vow of chastity he made when he took Buddhist orders. The riderless horse may suggest the poet who has fallen away from (ochiniki)--or broken--his vows.

1. Kokinshu, translated by Laurel Rasplica Rudd with Mary Catherine Henkenius, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984), p. 112