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Box: MAR.O.75 & A-C-1912

Object information

Current Location: In storage

Maker(s)

Unknown

Entities

Categories

Description

Lacquer box, suzuri-bako (box for writing utensils). Box, lacquer with silver metal rims. Rectangular box with a seated lid (A) The interior has a frame (B) containing an inset silver water pot and an inkstone (C). The black lacquer and mura-nashiji ground (nashiji with contrasting areas of densely and thinly packed gold flakes) is decorated in gold, red and silver-grey lacquer, inlaid eggshell and aogai (small pieces of blue-green inlaid shell) in takamakie (high-relief sprinkled design) with five dragon flies in flight. The dragon flies have intricately designed wings and bulbous eyes; one has purple and blue-green aogai wings, a gold body and gold eyes; one has black wings with gold markings, a gold body and purple inlaid eyes; a red lacquer dragonfly with black markings and aogai eyes; one has a black and gold body, wings inlaid with eggshell forming a white and gold crackle ground and inlaid purple shell eyes; the fifth has gold wings and aogai eyes. The mikayeshi (inside of the lid) has a partly black roiro (black lacquer polished to a deep gloss) and partly nashiji (shimmering spangles) ground and is decorated with a spider in his web watching a dragon fly with red and green wings which is trapped in the web. The removable tray is nashiji with an inset silver mizuire (water dropper); the sides of the inkstone are fundame (matt gold). The interior and the base are nashiji.

Legal notes

C.B. Marlay Bequest

Measurements and weight

Height: 2.6 cm
Length: 17.0 cm
Width: 15.4 cm

Acquisition and important dates

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

Dating

Edo Period (1615-1868)#
Circa 1700 - 1868

Components of the work

Rims composed of metal ( silver-coloured)
Decoration composed of shell (animal material) eggshell (animal material) gold

Materials used in production

Lacquer

Techniques used in production

Lacquering : Box, lacquer, with silver metal rims, black lacquer with a mura-nashiji ground (nashiji with contrasting areas of densely and thinly packed gold flakes), decorated with inlaid eggshell, lacquer and aogai (small pieces of inlaid blue-green shell) in takamakie (high-relief sprinkled design), the lid has a partly black roiro and partly nashiji ground, interior and base are nashiji

Inscription or legends present

Inscription present: white rectangular label with a grey border, under 958, two lines of character beneath, 'LH' is in red

  • Text: '958', 'LH'
  • Method of creation: Inscribed
  • Type: Label

Inscription present: similar label to above

  • Text: 958
  • Location: Base of inkstone
  • Type: Label

Identification numbers

Accession number: MAR.O.75 & A-C-1912
Primary reference Number: 24103
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Tuesday 4 February 2020 Last processed: Thursday 3 August 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/24103 Accessed: 2024-11-25 01:02:58

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/24103 |title=Box |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-25 01:02:58|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-24103

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