IDENTIFIERS ----------- id: 24103 accession number: MAR.O.75 & A-C-1912 DATE AUDIT ---------- created: Saturday 6 August 2011 updated: Monday 29 April 2024 DESCRIPTIVE DATA ---------------- object type: 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. title: box LICENSING --------- text license status: CC0 image license status: CC-BY-NC-SA OWNERSHIP --------- instutition: The Fitzwilliam Museum department: Applied Arts collection: C. B. Marlay creditline: C.B. Marlay Bequest STABLE URL ---------- url: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/24103 TECHNIQUES ---------- 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 lacquering CATEGORIES ------ category: lacquer DATING ------ creation date: 1700 - 1868 creation date earliest: 1700 creation date latest: 1868 culture: Edo Period (1615-1868) CREATORS -------- maker: Unknown DIMENSIONS ---------- dimension: Height units: cm value: 2.6 dimension: Length units: cm value: 17 dimension: Width units: cm value: 15.4