A LACQUER WRITING BOX (SUZURIBAKO)

MEIJI PERIOD (LATE 19TH CENTURY)

細節

A LACQUER WRITING BOX (SUZURIBAKO)
meiji period (late 19th century)
The small rectangular writing box decorated with motifs alluding to the Tales of Ise (Ise monogatari), the exterior in gold takamaki-e, hiramaki-e and kirigane on a bright nashiji ground with a karabitsu, a case carried by travelling priests to hold scriptures, set down beneath a maple tree on an ivy-covered path, the four uprights of the karabitsu inlaid in silver, the underside of the cover illustrated with a portable letter-container lying on an ivy-covered path, the bottom section designed with a few tendrils of ivy beneath the inkstone, also fitted with a silver water dropper cast as three clusters of ivy and two writing brushes, rims of silver
4 5/8 x 3 7/8 x 1¼in. (10.7 x 9.8 x 3.1cm.)

拍品專文

In one episode in the tenth-century Tales of Ise a poet from the capital journeyed to the provinces and at Mount Utsu he and his friends came to a road that was dark, narrow, and overgrown with ivy vines and maples. At that moment a wandering ascetic passed by and offered to take a message to a lady in the capital on behalf of the poet. The message is a poem of longing for an absent, invisible lover. The backpack on the exterior of the lid alludes to the mountain ascetic, while the letter case on the other side represents the poet.