About this artwork
This lacquer writing box—complete with ink cake and water dropper—features a design of ferns. A faint textile pattern is barely visible underneath the overall black lacquer on the cover (not shown), which is also adorned with inlaid mother-of-pearl letters that read “Michinoku no,” the first line of a poem from the 13th-century anthology A Hundred Verses of Old Japan (Ogura hyakunin isshū). The entire poem reads:
Ah! Why does my love distract my thoughts,
Disordering my will?
I am like the pattern on the cloth
Of Michinoku Hill,
All in confusion still.
Michinoku Hill is located outside Kyoto and was known for textile production as well as the ferns that grew there and presumably inspired the box’s inlaid decoration.
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Arts of Asia
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Artist
- Katayama Shosai
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Title
- Ferns Writing Box (shidakusa suzuribako)
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Place
- Japan (Artist's nationality:)
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Date
- 1910–1919
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Medium
- Lacquer with gold and mother-of-pearl inlay
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Dimensions
- 3.3 × 23.2 × 16.8 cm (1 5/16 × 9 3/16 × 6 5/8 in.)
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Credit Line
- Japanese Art Shinkokai Fund
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Reference Number
- 2011.282
Extended information about this artwork
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.
