Autumnal lacquer box

Japanese, late 19th century or early 20th century
Lacquerware with inlaid silver

At the beginning of the Meiji period (1868 – 1912), a new government was formed in Japan with the Emperor Meiji as its symbolic head. The Meiji government was focused on ‘modernising’ following Western models, after the previous rulers, the Tokugawa shogunate, had agreed to unequal treaties with western countries. The Meiji period saw rapid change in areas such as politics, infrastructure, architecture, education, industry, and fashion. Encouraging industry and promoting Japanese products on the world stage was a way to establish Japan as an emerging member of the international community. The promotion of traditional arts was also a reaction against the attitude that they were old fashioned and irrelevant in the new modern world. Japanese lacquerware proved to be popular for sale abroad, and its production was encouraged by the government.

The combination of the full moon, an autumn forest, and egrets on our Object of the Month is designed to evoke autumn. In Autumn, the moon-viewing festival takes place in Japan. It is believed that this is when the moon is at its roundest and most beautiful. The moon surrounded by clouds is an image that evokes the Japanese concept of wabi, or the beauty of things which are understated or imperfect. A famous passage from the 14th century text ‘Essays in Idleness’, tsurezuregusa, sums up this idea –

Rather than gazing on a clear full moon that shines over a thousand leagues, it is infinitely more moving to see the moon near dawn and after long anticipation, tinged with most beautiful palest blue, a moon glimpsed among cedar trees deep in the mountains, its light now hidden again by the gathering clouds of an autumn shower.

Translation by Meredith McKinney

White herons (or egrets) are also associated with autumn and winter and are often depicted alongside the moon in paintings.

The inner tray of this box has a design of two boats by a seashore, which at first may seem to be an odd pairing with the autumn theme of the box. On lacquer objects, however, seashore designs often allude to the autumnal Suma beach chapter in the 11th century Tale of Genji, which describes episodes in the life of a court prince. In the Suma chapter, Genji is exiled to Suma beach in the autumn where he spends his time composing poetry. This chapter may have been based on the exile of the 9th - century courtier Ariwara no Yukihira to Suma beach. A popular design for lacquerware, the image of a seashore alluded to these melancholy autumnal scenes of exiled courtiers.

The fact that our Object of the Month includes an inner tray suggests it may have been used to store utensils for the incense game. The ‘way of incense’, kōdō, became a fashionable pastime for the upper classes in Japan during the Muromachi period (1391 – 1573). Following strict rules and etiquette, the aim was to identify different kinds of expensive incense wood by their scent. Various tools were used to cut and prepare the incense wood and record the answers of guests.