Incense box and tray

Object Details

• Description

  Cryptomeria wood incense box and tray with a monkey design in lacquer decoration.

• Label

  Ogawa Haritsu (1663-1747), known also as Ritsuo, accomplished a subtle revolution in the creation of writing boxes and other writing instruments. His ingenious manipulation of nontraditional materials such as ceramic and found objects; emphasis on the contrast between plain, weathered wood and highly polished elements of ceramic and metal; and frequent use of trompe l'oeil, using lacquer to imitate diverse materials, expanded the expressive potential of the lacquered stationery box. In the late nineteenth century, Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891) was the central force in a revival and amplification of Ritsuo's vision. This box, by an unknown artist, seems to be a product of that revival.

  On the cover, in a parody of scholarly examination of a painting, three monkeys studiously observe a painting that features the flight of the yodaka (night hawk), a word in the Edo period associated with "night stalkers" or streetwalkers. The interior cover depicts the statue of a Buddhist guardian figure placed on a Chinese-style table with an adjacent spray of chrysanthemums.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Birds and Beasts in Japanese Art (January 31 to July 18, 2004)

  Surveying the Collections: Poets and Parties (July 2, 2000 to February 4, 2001)

  Japanese and Chinese Lacquer (September 22, 1982 to June 30, 1983)

  Year of the Monkey (May 18, 1980 to February 15, 1981)

  Japanese Lacquer (April 16, 1979 to October 8, 1980)

  Japanese Art, Galleries 3, 4, and 5 (January 1, 1963 to September 16, 1970)

  Ukiyo-e Exhibition (August 7, 1961 to January 1, 1963)

  Hokusai Bicentennial Exhibition (March 30, 1960 to August 16, 1961)

  Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 3 and 4 (February 25, 1956 to January 1, 1963)

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Container

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1700s, 1710s, 1720s, 1900s, 1770s, 1780s, 1790s, 1730s, 1740s, 1750s, 1760s, 1800s, 1810s, 1820s, 1830s, 1610s, 1650s, 1640s, 1630s, 1620s, 1690s, 1840s, 1680s, 1850s, 1670s, 1860s, 1660s

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Lokapala, Art, Animals, Chrysanthemum, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Incense, Vajra, Nighthawk, Japanese Art, Lacquer, Monkeys, Meiji era (1868 - 1912)

• Culture

  Buddhists, Japanese

• Object Type

  Containers