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Box: MAR.O.78 & A-1912

Object information

Awaiting location update

Maker(s)

Unknown

Entities

Categories

Description

Box, lacquer with mother of pearl. Box in the shape of an open book with a seated lid. The lid (A) has a black ground which is sprinkled with gold of varying density and decorated with an asymmetrically placed design of flowers, ferns and foliage in two-tone gold, silver-grey and aogai (small pieces of blue-green inlaid shell) in hiramakie (low-relief sprinkled design) and surrounded by a diaper-pattern border in gold and aogai. On the sides is a continuous diaper pattern, two sides of coin design with a rough finish in gold, silver and aogai, and two sides in lozenge and square design in gold and aogai. The inside of the box and lid are similarly decorated in togidashi (makie design covered with lacquer and polished until the design reappears flush with the ground) with scattered flower heads in gold, black and aogai on a nashiji (shimmering spangles) ground. The base is in nashiji.

Legal notes

C.B. Marlay Bequest

Measurements and weight

Height: 2.3 cm
Length: 9 cm
Width: 8.4 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

Decoration composed of mother-of-pearl shell (animal material)

Materials used in production

Lacquer

Techniques used in production

Lacquering : Lacquer, with mother of pearl, decorated with aogai (small pieces of blue-green inlaid shell) in hiramakie (low-relief sprinkled design), interior of box decorated in togidashi (makie design covered with lacquer and polished until the design reappears flush with the ground) and aogai on a nashiji ground, base is in nashiji

Identification numbers

Accession number: MAR.O.78 & A-1912
Primary reference Number: 24124
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Wednesday 11 January 2023 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://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/24124 Accessed: 2024-12-22 18:03:33

Citation for Wikipedia

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

{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/24124 |title=Box |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-22 18:03:33|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://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-24124

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