Japan, 19th century, Edo period (1615-1868)The overlapping cover rendered with thin folds representing a yabumi (arrow letter), the roiro ground finely decorated in silver and gold hiramaki-e and gold e-nashiji and togidashi-e with asagao (morning glory), ominaeshi (valerian), fujibakama (thoroughwort), kikyo (Chinese bellflowers), and susuki (miscanthus). The interior and underside with nashiji, the interior further with gold fundame edges.LENGTH 13.3 cmCondition: Very good condition with minor wear, the interior edges of the cover with two minuscule and faint age cracks.Provenance: English private collection, acquired mainly during the 1960s and 1970s.In feudal Japan, messages were sometimes sent by tying a letter to an arrow and shooting the arrow to the intended recipient. Such letters were known as yabumi (lit. ‘arrow text’). A woodblock print by Suzuki Harunobu (d. 1770), titled Love-letter Arrow and depicting a man about to send off a yabumi, is in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum (accession number A-10569-112).The yabumi shape is very rarely seen in lacquer art.