A Black and Gold-Lacquer Suzuribako (Box for Writing Utensils)
Taisho era (1912-1926), circa 1915
The scalloped edged kabusebuta (overhanging lid) decorated on the exterior and sides in gold and slight red takamaki-e and gold togidashi maki-e with five crows and two egrets at dawn, inlaid respectively in shakudo and shibuichi, in and above a forest of pines and other trees and with the kana syllables and kanji character asa koe su ru inlaid in silver within the design; the interior of the lid with clouds; the interior of the box with cloud-outline ita (baseboards) above and below supporting two fude (writing brushes), a tosu (paper knife), and a kiri (awl for piercing sheets of paper), all of them with cloud designs in the same techniques as the rest of the set; the upper insert with a cloud-shaped recess for the cloisonné-enamel suiteki (water dropper), the suiteki and an adjacent lacquer cloud with the syllables and character yo fu ka ki; the moon represented by the almost circular suzuri (ink-grinding stone), made from wood, itself carved with a cloud-shaped water reservoir and embellished with a cloud in gold maki-e, signed to the left of the lower ita Kagyo saku (made by Kagyo); with double lacquered wood tomobako storage boxes, the outer box inscribed and signed outside the lid Ariake maki-e onsuzuribako Kagyo sha (Writing box with maki-e design of dawn, drawn by Kagyo) with a seal Morikazu; the inner storage box inscribed Ariake (Dawn) on the lid, the interior of the lid inscribed with a poem in gold hiramaki-e Asagarasu / koe suru mori no / kozue shimo / tsuki wa yobukaki / ariake no kage (Even at daybreak / when the cries of crows are heard / from forest branches / the moon casts its pale shadows / as if it were still deep night); followed by an inscription Shokoin no Miya Doko Ho Shinno gyohitsu (From the Imperial Brush of Prince Shokoin no Miya Doko [1612-1678]). 5.5cm x 28cm x 25cm (2 3/16in x 11in x 9 13/16in). (11).