Writing box with pines, plum, chrysanthemums, and paulownia, 16th century
Unknown Japaneseexpand_more
Black lacquer with gold maki-e, pearskin ground (nashiji), and pictorial pearskin ground (e-nashiji)expand_more
Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundationexpand_more 2015.79.407a-f
Not on Viewexpand_more
Kodaiji style lacquer
Writing boxes (suzuribako) were used to hold an assortment of writing utensils, including an inkstone, a water dropper, brushes, and sticks of ink. On each side of the bold zigzag is a combination of auspicious floral motifs in maki-e, or “sprinkled picture,” a technique in which artists apply metallic flakes or powder on the lacquer surface before it fully dries. On the upper left are seen pine trees and plum blossoms on a black-lacquer background, and on the lower right chrysanthemums and paulownia decorate a red background created with the nashiji (pear-skin) technique. The zigzag is a unique design feature of lacquer objects created in the so-called Kōdaiji style, which developed in the late 1500s and was associated with the temple Kōdaiji in Kyoto.
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Details
- Title
- Writing box with pines, plum, chrysanthemums, and paulownia
- Role
- Artist
- Accession Number
- 2015.79.407a-f
- Catalogue Raisonne
- Murase, Art through a Lifetime, no. 780
- Curator Approved
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