Box for writing utensils

Artists of the Rimpa school, named in the late nineteenth century after the painter, textile, and lacquer designer Ogata Korin (1658-1716), are credited with innovative designs for objects, including lacquerware, a craft that demands excellent technical knowledge. In the early seventeenth century, the calligrapher Hon'ami Koetsu (1559-1637) participated in lacquer design. In addition to the traditional gold and silver that had been used in Japanese lacquer decoration since the eighth century, Koetsu is thought to have encouraged the use of new materials, such as sheet lead worked to a textured rather than a polished surface. Korin's lacquer designs carried on the tradition of heavy mother-of-pearl and metal inlays combined with traditional maki-e (sprinkled gold and silver).

This box contains a spurious signature of Korin, but it lacks the fine execution associated with his best designs. It does, however, reflect the importance of Korin's style throughout the nineteenth century, when it was disseminated as much through woodblock-printed books as through direct transmission of his artistic style. The scene comes from the eleventh-century court classic Tales of Ise, in which a courtier rides a horse over a hill. Most of the gold used to depict the hill has rubbed away.