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Box: MAR.O.45 & A-1912

Object information

Current Location: In storage

Maker(s)

Unknown

Entities

Categories

Description

Box, lacquer and mother of pearl. Rectangular box and seated lid (A) with bevelled edges. The black lacquer ground on the exterior has brown patches resembling tortoiseshell and is finely inlaid with mother of pearl. The central medallion contains an exotic bird with outspread wings and is surrounded by six pairs of entwined doves holding a spray of scrolling foliage in their beaks. In each of the corners of the lid is a scrolling flower spray and two bands of flower heads border the edges. The sides of the lower section are inlaid with six doves and scrolling foliage. The interior and the base are black.

Legal notes

C.B. Marlay Bequest

Measurements and weight

Height: 13.8 cm
Length: 35.1 cm
Width: 27.7 cm

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1912) by Marlay, Charles Brinsley

Dating

Edo Period (1615-1868)#
Meiji Period (1868-1912)
Circa 1850 - 1912

Components of the work

Inlay composed of mother-of-pearl
Exterior
Lid Edges

Materials used in production

Lacquer

Techniques used in production

Lacquering

Inscription or legends present

Inscription present: rectangular piece of paper

  • Text: Black lacquer box with pearl inlay. Japanese. To be kept. O.C. Raphael, July, 1934. Marlay Bequest, 1912
  • Method of creation: Inscribed in black ink
  • Type: Label

Inscription present: on same piece of paper as above

  • Text: Copy of Shosuhu piece Mid 19 century - 20 century
  • Method of creation: Written in red biro at a later date
  • Type: Label

Inscription present: rectangular white label with black border

  • Text: Fitzwilliam Museum Marlay Bequest 1912
  • Location: Stuck on reverse
  • Method of creation: Printed
  • Type: Label

Identification numbers

Accession number: MAR.O.45 & A-1912
Primary reference Number: 23861
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Wednesday 20 March 2019 Last processed: Friday 8 December 2023

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Box" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/23861 Accessed: 2024-11-05 19:56:03

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/23861 |title=Box |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-05 19:56:03|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:

https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-23861

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