A gold-lacquer circular kagamibako (box for a mirror) and cover


Edo period (1615-1868), late 17th/early 18th centuryThe cover decorated and inlaid in shell hiramaki-e with a symmetrical arrangement of scrolling lotus blossoms, the design extending over the box, the interior of the cover of matt gold, the interior of the box of pewter; the rims of pewter. 2.6cm x 13.2cm (1in x 5 3/16in). (2).
|ProvenanceLouis Gonse Collection.PublishedLouis Gonse, L'art japonais, Paris, Maison Quantin, 1886, p.257.An almost identical lidded kagamibako with pewter rims, decorated with the same motif and executed in the same technique but without the design extending over the box is in the British Museum, inv.1952,0211.10.