Mirror Case with Hosoge Flowers
- Date
-
制作年 Kamakura period(13th century)
- Title
- イカケジラデンホウソウゲモンカガミバコ
- Measurements
- H. 3.0, D. 12.0
- Materials, techniques and shape
- Lacquered wood with maki-e and mother-of-pearl
- Collections
- Century Akao Collection
- Depository
- Keio Museum Commons Campus Mita
- Ref. number
- AW-CEN-001305-0000
- License
- CC BY Images license
- Creditline
-
慶應義塾（センチュリー赤尾コレクション）
- URL
- Classification
- Art
- AI Tagging
- Brown Food Ingredient Cuisine Dish
This elegant mirror case is decorated with hosoge flowers in mother-of-pearl and ikakeji (gold or silver densely sprinkled on a lacquered ground) on the lid and tin layers by the opening on the side. It originally functioned as a case for combs as part of a make-up set of a noblewoman, but all of the other cases were lost and only this one survives. Ikakeji refers to a technique in which lacquerware is thickly coated with gold dust and polished to look like gold. The shining white mother-of-pearl inlays on the gold ikakeji ground reflect the taste of nobles during the Kamakura period (1192–1333）. It is reminiscent of the elegant courtly culture of the past.
Description from the exhibition Catalogue "Letter-scape: Century Akao Collection, A World of Letters and Figures", Keio Museum Commons, April 2021
Kushige (“comb boxes,” boxes for cosmetic objects) were requisites for noble ladies since the Heian period Mirrors, combs comb brushes, hairpins, face-powder cases, rouge plates, etc. were contained in boxes beautifully decorated in makie (gold-lacqer), raden (mother-of-pearl inlay) and other such decorative means.This mirror case was made for the purpose of keeping a round bronze mirror in it. It of course was part of a kushige set. The rest of the set have been lost. The rest of the set have been lost. The case has its surface finished in ikake-ji (“poured-on ground”); a design of hosoge (an imaginary floral motif) was inlaid on the wooden base with cutouts of mother-of-pearl, then lacquer was coated over it, and gold filings were deposited densely to look as if luquid gold were poured all over. It is a technique which creates a very elegant beauty. The Diary of Lady Ben no Naishi, in its article of 1251, has a statement: “A cabinet and two cosmetic boxes with the ground finished in ikake-ji and inlaid with mother-of-pearl.” It refers to chodo (the nobility’s household requisites serving also as interior ornaments) such as this kushige. It carries vestige of patricians’ elegant life of those times.
Overview
Rights
Depository and ID
Components
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Details
Identifiers
- Title (EN)
- Mirror Case with Hosoge Flowers
Physical description
- Weights and quantities
-
Quantity 1合
- Materials, techniques and shape
-
Materials 螺鈿 沃懸地 裂地張（内側）
- Attachments
- 香木
Provenance
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