Box for Documents (Bunko)

Yoshida Junichiro was the leading Japanese lacquer artist of the twentieth century, and this intricate lacquer box was probably created during the period of his most significant artistic activity. The box held poem cards and other important paper documents. The exterior of the box’s detached cover features an exuberant, colorful pheasant rising from waving grasses set on a shiny black field. The interior surfaces of both lid and box include more restrained images of sinuous hanging vines rendered in a softly glowing silver relief over a plain orange ground.

The execution of this varied and elaborately detailed imagery represents a tour de force of the craft of Japanese lacquer. The unexpected pairing of very different decorative treatments suggests a desire on the part of the artist to distinguish between the varying functions of the box as an object of delight when closed and the rarified container of treasured items when opened.