A LACQUERED AND GILT WOOD WRITING BOX, SUZURIBAKO
Japan, Edo period, late 18th – early 19th century


Without internal compartments, it has a rectangular shape with slightly rounded corners, the entire internal and external surface densely sprinkled with gold 'pear skin' (nashiji), the outside of the lid showing Daikoku with a hammer and a sack in his hands, behind him two bales of rice and on the ground a cintamani jewel, the decoration finely made in hiramaki-e, the inside of the lid with a stylized stream and scattered leaves.

4 x 17 x 21 cm

Provenance: Italian private collection.

Daikoku (literally "the great black") is a deity of the pantheon of Japanese folk religion, a member of the group of the "Seven Gods of Happiness" (Shichifukujin). He is considered the protector of the home, agriculture and prosperity, and for this reason he is usually depicted together with rice bales near which mice often roam.