Details
A LACQUER WRITING BOX (SUZURIBAKO)
meiji period (late 19th century)
The large, rectangular box lavishly decorated on the interior with numerous cherry trees in full bloom in the hills, the blossoms of inlaid silver with keuchi centers, the leaves kinji or inlaid aogai and the trunks kirigane, the rounded hills gold lacquer in low relief embellished with togidashi, hirame, e-nashiji and kimpun, and the background roiro-nuri and hirame with clouds of gold togidashi or clouds of low-relief takamaki-e and okibirame, the removable implement tray decorated with complementary motifs and fitted with a rectangular inkstone lacquered with gold edges and with a silver mizuire in the form of a crescent moon which fits in a slot of the same shape surrounded by lacquer clouds; the cover of the box decorated in low-relief takamaki-e, hirame, togidashi and gold foil with a shrine nestled in pines, some inlaid in aogai, and three boats sailing in a bay of gold togidashi
10¾ x 10 1/8 x 2in. (27.3 x 25.8 x 5cm.)
