1-234-608 - The Museum of East Asian Art/Heritage Images

Maki-e lacquer inro with rice stacks and birds, late Edo period, Japan, late 18th century. A gold maki-e on black lacquer inro. The piece is decorated with a riverscape with birds and stacks of straw. There is a mark of Kajikawa and red seal with an accompanying netsuke of a small dark wood box with inlays of flowers in coloured stones and mother of pearl. Kajikawa was one of the most famous factories producing good inro during the Edo period. The name was used by many generations of lacquerers right up to the late 19th century. The first of the name was Kajikawa Hikobei (active 1624-1643).