Writing Box (Suzuribako) with Europeans
1800–1899
- Medium
- lacquered wood with gold maki-e, silver inlay and red lacquer on black ground
- Dimensions
- 23 x 20.2 cm (9 1/16 x 7 15/16 in.)
- Genre
- Lacquer
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art
Styles
Tags
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
About
The two people on the left of this box lid's design are Portuguese traders, identifiable by their balloon-shaped pants. Facing them is a Jesuit priest in a long robe. Portuguese ships arrived in Japan in the 1540s. Imagery first made to document the appearance of the foreigners survived as decoration on later objects like this one.