Lot Essay
The decoration on this lot is strikingly similar to that of a celebrated travelling cosmetic box (tabikushibako) now in Tokyo National Museum [see 1 below]; the Tokyo box, however, is executed in a wider range of materials and techniques including e-nashiji and shell. In the late Momoyama and early Edo periods the time-saving and expressive lacquer techniques nowadays collectively called Kodajiji makie (after the name of a temple where several of the earliest examples are preserved) were used to depict free-flowing plant and animal designs on a wide range of items, in particular relatively large boxes and cabinets intended for outdoor use. Another example of a portable cabinet (sagedansu) of about the same date in the Seattle Art Museum is decorated with squirrels and grapes in a similarly informal style, and is close in size and shape to the present lot although the drawers are missing [see 2 below].
The hare and waves motif was popular in the early Edo period, taking over at that time from the long-standing depiction of the hare in the moon (first seen in 7th century textiles); the theme is also found in the No play Chikubushima which includes a poem describing hares leaping over the waves as the moon is reflected on the surface of the sea.
1 Yoshioka Yukio (ed.), Nihon no isho 10: Kemono, sakana, kai [Designs of Japan 10: Animals, fish, shells], (Kyoto, 1985), pl. 110. Also reproduced in Arakawa Hirokazu (ed.), Nihon no shitsugei 4 makie IV [Lacquer art of Japan part 4, Makie, section IV], (Tokyo, 1978), pl. 63
2 Mainichi Shimbunsha (pub.), Zaigai Nihon no shiho [Japanese art treasures abroad], (Tokyo, 1981), vol. 10 (Kitamura Tetsuo ed.), Kogei [Crafts], pl. 14
The hare and waves motif was popular in the early Edo period, taking over at that time from the long-standing depiction of the hare in the moon (first seen in 7th century textiles); the theme is also found in the No play Chikubushima which includes a poem describing hares leaping over the waves as the moon is reflected on the surface of the sea.
1 Yoshioka Yukio (ed.), Nihon no isho 10: Kemono, sakana, kai [Designs of Japan 10: Animals, fish, shells], (Kyoto, 1985), pl. 110. Also reproduced in Arakawa Hirokazu (ed.), Nihon no shitsugei 4 makie IV [Lacquer art of Japan part 4, Makie, section IV], (Tokyo, 1978), pl. 63
2 Mainichi Shimbunsha (pub.), Zaigai Nihon no shiho [Japanese art treasures abroad], (Tokyo, 1981), vol. 10 (Kitamura Tetsuo ed.), Kogei [Crafts], pl. 14