A RARE LACQUER BOX AND COVER WITH INTERIOR TRAY AND TWO SMALLER BOXES, FOR THE INCENSE MATCHING GAMEJapan, 19th century, Edo period (1615-1868)Of rectangular form, bearing a richly gold-sprinkled roiro ground finely decorated in gold hiramaki-e and takamaki-e with mura-nashiji and kirikane to depict a mountain landscape with willows and pines, a bridge over a meandering river with neatly painted waves, and a thick cloud. The interior of rich nashiji with gold fundame edges, the underside also of nashiji and pierced with a circular aperture. The box contains a similarly decorated tray and two small boxes with a similarly gold-sprinkled kinji ground decorated to the covers with circular panels enclosing aster and gardenia flowers, respectively, with nashiji interiors and undersides.SIZE 3.6 x 8.3 x 5.9 cmCondition: Excellent condition with minor wear.Provenance: From an old private collection in the United Kingdom. The cover of the tomobako with an old label to the interior, ‘Curios, H. Sato & Co., 58 Motokago-Machi, Nagasaki, Japan’. An old card inscribed with a personal poem dedicated to the previous owner’s “dear teacher from Vita” accompanies this lot.With a wood storage box (tomobako).The present set was used for the incense matching game. Like the Way of Tea and flower arrangement, the enjoyment of incense had developed into a complex pastime by the Edo period and had a large following during the seventeenth century. The various games involve guessing a fragrance from among more than 2,000 varieties, matching fragrances, and blending incenses to suggest certain moods.Auction comparison:Compare a closely related lacquer incense box with tray and four lacquer boxes, sold at Woolley & Wallis, Japanese Works of Art, 7 December 2020, Salisbury, lot 376 (sold for hammer price 4,000 GBP).