A LARGE RYOSHIBAKO LACQUER DOCUMENT BOX Japan, later Edo period, 18th - mid-19th century Elaborately painted in gold lacquer to depict two playful shishi below a pine tree, enhanced with mother-of-pearl inlays, all above a silver nashiji ground. The sides with two more shishi amid peonies, the inside with further peonies on a gold nashiji ground. SIZE 42 x 32 x 15 cm Condition: Extensive wear, fine age-related cracks, minor losses and some touch-ups mostly to edges. Provenance: From an Austrian private collection. Kept in the same family since the first half of the 20th century and thence by descent.