Inro with a cat

Signed Koma Yasuaki
Japanese, 19th century
Lacquerware

September’s Object of the Month is this beautiful lacquer four-case inrō decorated in fundame (dense gold powder) and nashiji (meaning ‘pear skin’ as the sprinkled texture of the gold flakes resembles that of a pear). It is decorated in shades of gold, silver, red and black hiramaki e (low relief lacquer) and takamaki e (high relief lacquer) and depicts a cat running beneath a bamboo blind. On the reverse there are musical instruments, including a koto and biwa, which are associated with Japanese imperial court music and dances. It has been signed ‘Koma Yasuaki’.

An inrō is a tiered container that was traditionally worn by men. It served two main purposes: to hold an individual’s seal and red ink for stamping a signature, or for carrying medicines. In Japan during the seventeenth to the mid-nineteenth century, individuals of all classes wore the kimono. As this garment has no pockets, sagemono (a collective term for ‘hanging things’) were suspended on cords that hung from the obi sash which holds the kimono in place around the body. The inrō was developed as a way of carrying daily necessities and was worn hung from the obi sash by a silk cord and netsuke (toggle).

Collection of inrō decorated with fish and shells in lacquer and pearl-shell, demonstrating how the different tiers open. unknown artist, made during 1775-1850, V&A Museum, accession number: W.629-1910

The designs of inrō gradually became more elaborate and complex so that they were works of art in their own right. Our Object of the Month is decorated using lacquer which was the most common surface decoration technique for inrō at the time. The lacquering process begins with coating the surface of a material with the sap of the Rhus verniciflua tree which is applied in very thin layers. When the lacquer (urushi in Japanese) hardens, it forms a protective surface onto which different coloured powders are sprinkled or dusted to build up designs. These powders were often coloured with vegetable and mineral dyes.

It is possible that the scene depicted on this inrō may be illustrating a passage written over a thousand years ago from The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon, a lady-in-waiting to Japan’s Empress Teishi. The passage describes the emperor’s cat being chased out onto a ‘veranda’ where it had been ‘basking sleepily in the sun’ by a dog named Okinamaro. In fleeing from the dog, the cat disturbs the emperor, who orders that the dog be banished from the palace grounds. After some confusion about whether in fact the order given to Okinamaro to chase the cat had been in earnest, the tale ends with the Okinamaro receiving an imperial pardon and he regains his status. This passage, and The Pillow Book as a whole, provides a unique insight into court life and an exploration into the theme of power. Other elements of the inrō design that suggest a link to the Okinamaro passage are the kemari ball in the lower right-hand corner and the koto and biwa instruments on the reverse, all of which are symbols of court culture.

Japanese Ladies’ Manners, print by Ogata Gekko (1859-1920), National Museum of Asian Art Collection, accession number: S2003.8.1746

Cats have appeared throughout Japanese art, literature and folklore for centuries. It is believed that they were first introduced to Japan during the mid-sixth century, arriving alongside Buddhist monks and traders to help protect scriptures from being damaged by rodents. Our Object of the Month, featuring a cat within its design, was created in the Edo period (1603-1868), a period named after the city of Edo, now modern-day Tokyo, where the Tokugawa shogunate (the ruling military family) had its government.

Cats still hold significance in contemporary culture in Japan, from its islands inhabited only by cats to the famous waving maneki-neko (‘beckoning cat ‘or ‘lucky cat’) which are said to bring their owners good fortune.

Netsuke in katabori (‘shape carving’) form of a cat by an unknown artist, carved ivory, 1800-1850 (Edo period), V&A Museum, accession number: A.65-1915