Small Chinese Chest with Marsh and Plover Design in Mother-of-Pearl and Maki-e

One Chest, National Treasure since 1951

Small Chinese Chest with Marsh and Plover Design in Mother-of-Pearl and Maki-e (澤千鳥螺鈿蒔絵小唐櫃, Sawa Chidori Raden Makie Shokarabitsu) is a Heian-period craft object owned by Kongobuji in Wakayama Prefecture, made an Important Cultural Property on 28 December 1897 and designated a National Treasure on 9 June 1951. The quantity is one chest.

The listing of 28 December 1897 falls on the same day as the Kanshinji golden hall and is the earliest met here. 9 June 1951 is the day of the Tsurugaoka inkstone box and the Koya cutting.

It measures 30.5 centimetres deep, 39.9 centimetres wide and 30.0 centimetres high. The address field in the Agency's database is blank, the fifth such case.

Two Rims, Two Metals, One of Them Later

The same fitting appears in two places.

The Agency records a rim of copper on the body, noting it as a later replacement.

Of the inner tray it records a rim of tin.

A rim of this kind is a metal band covering the lip of a vessel. The same fitting is copper on the body and tin on the tray: two metals for one purpose.

On the chrysanthemum waist sword, only one hilt ornament was a later replacement. With the Hosoge sutra box, both brocade linings were later.

Here two instances of one fitting exist and only one carries the note of replacement. The other does not.

Colour Divided Within the Gold

The account of the lacquer metals is precise.

The commentary records burnished lacquer worked chiefly in gold and in green gold, with plovers picked out in a little shell and finished with fine engraving.

Two golds are named. Green gold is gold alloyed with silver, differing in tone.

With the Hosoge sutra box, flowers and rings were in gold and leaves and stems in silver: two different metals divided by part.

Here the division falls within gold itself. Shades of one metal are set against each other.

Further techniques follow: banks and rocks are shaded in sprinkled powder and the open spaces laid as a finely flecked ground, so that the handling produces a sense of colour and a landscape of some feeling.

Inside and Outside Are Given Different Characters

Decoration changes from place to place.

The lid and the outer faces are entirely of black lacquer, showing plovers gathered and playing along a marsh stream thick with water plants, worked chiefly in sprinkled lacquer with shell among the plants and birds.

The underside of the lid carries wild grasses, butterflies and birds. Outside, marsh and plovers; inside, grasses and butterflies: different subjects.

Of the tray's floor: on a black lacquer ground, gilt openwork fittings with a flowering scroll are set in, with shell flowers between them.

The assessment closes on this: the gold of the fittings and the tones of the shell playing against the black ground make a design of a different character from the main subject on the lid.

A different character, in those words. With the Tsurugaoka inkstone box, one design reached even an unseen floor. Here the opposite: the less visible the place, the more the subject and the character change.

Seeing It

The chest belongs to Kongobuji. It is a temple holding, not kept on permanent display.

Its form is recorded: a small chest of fine bearing, with gilt silver fittings of delicate scrollwork capping the tops and feet of its four legs.

It stands on four legs, with fittings above and below each. A box that stands raised.

The same temple owns the Kongobuji Fudo hall, a National Treasure among structures. One owner, two fields.

Related entries include other lacquer boxes with shell inlay from the same tradition. Exhibition plans can change, so check before travelling.