EDO PERIOD (17TH-18TH CENTURY)

Atsuhime, the eldest daughter of Shimazu Tadatake (1806-1854), was born in 1836. She was adopted by Konoe Tadahiro (1808-1898), the Minister of the Right in 1856, and that same year she married the thirteenth Tokugawa shogun, Iesada (1824-1858). Lacquer works that believed to be part of Tensho-in Atsuhime's wedding furniture set are in the collection of various museums. Including a sumptuous ceremonial palanquin made in 1856 on display at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC, and a set of lacquer tea-bowl stand and lid at the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum (fig. 1). All of these lacquer works owned by Tensho-in Atsuhime feature the crest of dakibotan (peony surrounded by leaves), which was the family crest of the Konoe Family.