Portable Luncheon Cabinet with Flowers,Lacquer with Maki-e(Sprinkled Gold)

This portable box and its fittings would have been used to serve sake and snacks an outdoor banquet. This type of equipment has various names in Japanese, whether kochu , literally portable kitchen, or sage ju , portable tiered boxes, or hanami bento , lunch box for flower viewing. A square frame with a nashiji ground, decorated with a variety of motifs worked in lacquer and set into square cartouches, holds the stacked boxes, square trays, small dishes, box and red lacquer coated cups that make up this set. This lacquer set is matched with a tin water pitcher-shaped sake bottle. The entire set is covered with a deep-sided lid with maki-e designs of the four seasons on its surfaces. Thus the maki-e designs on this set are a combination of felicitous motifs, flowers and grasses and geometric designs. This crest, combined with the high quality maki-e work and specific motifs indicate that the set was likely part of a daimyo clan lord family’s bridal furnishings set.