A MATCHING LACQUER WRITING BOX (SUZURIBAKO) AND WRITING TABLE (BUNDAI)

Details

A MATCHING LACQUER WRITING BOX (SUZURIBAKO) AND WRITING TABLE (BUNDAI)
(edo period, 19th century)

Each illustrated with motifs from the Hatsune ("The First Warbler") chapter of The Tale of Genji in a brilliant display of lacquer techniques; the large writing box decorated on the lid with a condensed scene of the one on the surface of the writing table, a gilt-silver bird perched on the gnarled trunk of a plum tree rendered in gold hiramaki-e and takamaki-e with embellishments of kimpun and kirigane, the buds and blossoms of inlaid silver, gilded silver and coral, the opposite trees identical, the 'bamboo' fence in the foreground of gold and silver takamaki-e and the adjacent ground and clouds also raised gold and silver with accents of gold and silver kirigane, the opposite banks matching, the lake gold hiramaki-e and the background gyobu, Genji's mansion decorated in gold and silver and the interior tatami mats and side wall executed in gold and black togidashi, the interior curtains of state (kicho) in gold and silver hiramaki-e, the veranda gold foil, the pines placed on the veranda in gold lacquer in low relief, the raised roof of the villa gold lacquer ornamented with rectangular pieces of gold foil, and the upper bands of clouds gold and silver takamaki-e with details of kirigane, kimpun and nashiji, the design continued on the upper and lower sides; the underside of the lid rendered in matching gold and silver lacquer with numerous embellishments with a gilt-silver warbler perched on a pine tree, a garden lake, a camellia tree, a brush fence of gold and silver in low relief and gold and silver togidashi clouds with kirigane details, the background nashiji; the writing compartment decorated with young pines and another camellia on a nashiji ground, the removable implement tray en suite with silver rims; fitted with an ink stick holder, paper knife and paper pricker in gyobu cases with silver mounts engraved with foliage and with two brushes in matching gyobu cases with silver rims; also fitted with an inkstone and mizuire of shakudo, shibuichi, silver with gilded details cast as a Bugaku headdress, flute and mouth organ (sho) in a silver frame, rims silver, base nashiji--10¾ x 9 5/8 x 2in. (27.3 x 24.4 x 5.2cm.)

The rectangular table set on four shaped legs lacquered in gyobu on the outer surfaces and in nashiji on the inner surfaces and applied with silver on the edges; the surface of the table executed in a panoply of techniques, the pines in the foreground of gold takamaki-e and the adjacent plum also gold lacquer with inlaid buds and blossoms of gilt-silver, silver and coral, the buds of the plants below the trees inlaid in malachite and the swelling ground raised in high relief and ornamented with gold and silver okibirame and nashiji, the lake rendered in gold hiramaki-e and the bridge spanning it of gold hiramaki-e, the posts of inlaid gilt-metal and the planks covered by a sheet of gold foil, the opposite bank matching the foreground and the buds and blossoms of camellia inlaid in gold and silver, the warbler flying above of inlaid gilt-silver, the villa to the right executed in gold and silver lacquer, the steps silver, the planks of the veranda gold foil, the pine branch and baskets upon it gold in low relief, the interior tatami floor and wall togidashi and the curtains of state (kicho) hiramaki-e, the roof enhanced by a pattern of large rectangles of gold foil, the plum, pines and rocks beside the house matching those in the foreground, the raised clouds across the top gold and silver highlighted with kirigane, nashiji and togidashi, the background of the scene and raised borders gyobu, the underside of the table nashiji and the mounts silver cast in relief with scrolling foliage--25 7/8 x 14½ x 4½in. (65.7 x 36.8 x 11.5cm.) (2)

Lot Essay

The writing box and table are decorated with images from Chapter 23 ("Hatsune" or "The First Warbler") of Lady Murasaki's eleventh-century novel, The Tale of Genji. It is New Year's Day and Prince Genji sets out to visit each of his ladies, most of whom he has established in wings of his own mansion. The lavishly decorated lacquer befits the author's description of the "jeweled precincts" of Genji's mansion, in which "every detail of the gardens was a pleasure and the ladies' apartments were perfection."¹

In the beautiful garden of Genji's first love, Murasaki, the scent of plum blossoms blends with the perfumes of the ladies inside and "made one think that paradise had come down to earth." This image surely inspired the lacquer master who literally created the "jeweled precincts" by applying plum blossoms made of pieces of coral and gilt-silver and silver. The green berries (or blossoms) of one of the bushes at the edge of the water on the writing table are made of malachite. Gold flakes of every size and density dazzle the eye.

The small lake shown in the foreground was an important element in the garden of a Heian-period (794-1185) aristocrat. It is also the subject of an exchange of congratulatory poems between Genji and Murasaki on the New Year's morning. Genji's poem has an appropriate note of felicity:

The mirror of this lake, now freed from ice,
Offers an image of utter peace and calm.

The occupants of the mansion are not visible but their presence is suggested by the curtains of state (kicho) which shield them from view. The veranda with seedling pine and baskets is a corner of the mansion housing Genji's daughter, the Akashi princess. Her page girls have been out in the hills in the garden collecting the seedling pines which were given at New Year's as tokens of longevity. Her mother, the Akashi lady, has sent over New Year delicacies in "bearded baskets" (baskets with the ends of the woven strands left untrimmed). She also sent an uguisu (warbler or nightingale, not present here) on an artificial pine branch together with a poem that makes a pun on the word matsu, meaning both "pine" and "wait", thus conveying her longing for her daughter.

Seeing this gift, Genji is moved to open a writing box and suggest to his daughter that she should respond by writing a poem of her own. In short, the scene selected by the lacquer artist (or by his literate and wealthy client) is perfectly suited as the decoration for a writing box and table.

The warbler is usually associated with the plum, as seen here. The lacquer artist makes the warbler, applied in gilded silver, a central element of his design. On the writing table the warbler is shown in flight heading toward the plum tree in the garden. On the exterior of the writing box lid it has alighted on the plum. On the interior of the lid the design has been reduced to the bare essentials: the garden is eliminated and only plum and warbler remain.

The lacquerer pulls out all the stops to dazzle the eye with his mastery of every possible technique. The large irregular flakes of gold leaf in the garden and on the writing implements, for example, are applied side by side in the gyobu technique with such skill that no continuous lines result. Rectangular strips of gold leaf are carefully applied to suggest the shingles of the roof in okibirame; the roof edge is illusionistically raised in takamaki-e.

The water dropper is fashioned in the shape of a Bugaku helmet together with a flute and a sho, or mouth organ, possibly a reference to Murasaki's garden in Chapter 24 ("Butterflies"), when Genji calls on palace musicians to perform water music.

The "Hatsune" design is inspired by a famous seventeenth-century trousseau set of the same theme by Koami Nagashige in the collection of the Tokugawa Art Museum, Nagoya. The set is decorated with the Tokugawa aoi crest and was brought by Chiyohime, eldest daughter of the shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu, on her marriage to the lord of Owari province in 1639.

1. This and all subsequent translations are from Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji, translated by Edward G. Seidensticker (New York: Knopf, 1976), pp. 409-10.