Box with designs of the five festival days in maki-e

Maki-e, gold and silver inlay, lacquer painting, and other lacquering techniques were used with exquisite finesse to create this fitted, three-tiered box with designs relating to the five festivals. On the lid are brightly colored temari balls, pine needles, and dandelion representing the New Year, while decorating each of the four sides are various objects associated with the other festivals: a peach branch and bottle gourd for the Doll Festival; the special iris sword for Boy’s Festival; two ink brushes representing Tanabata, and, for the Chrysanthemum Festival, a depiction of chrysanthemums wrapped in tatogami paper decorated with autumn plants and placed beside a flowing stream. The skill with which the designs are renderd is characteristic of Shibata Zeshin, who was active from the end of the Edo period into the Meiji era. In this work, he has achieved a consummate expression of the Edo idea of stylishness.