Sake cup with sugoroku board game design (Supplemental)

This wine cup has a rare design featuring a board game ‘sugoroku (Japanese backgammon)’. The spirally arranged design is executed in hira maki-e (flat sprinkled metal decoration) on the vermilion lacquered surface. It depicts celebrated places in Edo (modern Tokyo) from the start of the Nihonbashi Bridge to the completion of the Ote-mon Gate of Edo Castle.

The creator, Kōryusai is considered to have been a 19th-century maki-e artist, but the details of his career are unknown.