Red-lacquered saké bottle

This type of bottle was used to pour saké and would have been combined with either bottles for saké offerings to the gods in Shinto shrine settings, or bottles at elegant banquets. The technique of layering red lacquer coats on top of black lacquer coats is traditionally said to have begun during Japan’s medieval period at Negoroji temple in Wakayama and this led to the name negoro ware for such red on black lacquer works. As an object coated in such layers of color is used, the upper layer of red lacquer is rubbed and flaked away, allowing glimpses of the black lacquer layers beneath. The random patterns of red and black that result make up one of the special features of negoro lacquer ware.