Property from the Paul and Helen Anbinder Collection A TALL BLACK-LACQUER WRITING BOXMeiji (1868-1912) or Taisho (1912-1926) era, early 20th century A suzuribako of nando type,prising a rectangular box with inset rounded corners, the flat-topped lid of inrōbuta (flush-fitting) type, a kakego (inner tray), and a hikidashi (drawer) fitted with an ita (board) cut with openings to receive the suzuri (ink stone) and suiteki (water dropper), the drawer contained within a raised section inside the box, the exterior with trees of the four seasons—mature pine, wakamatsu (pine saplings), maple, tachibana (mandarin orange), cherry—a stream, and flying and standing cranes, the interior of the lid with the moon, clouds, and a gourd vine, the ita and the interior of the box with scattered butterflies; the wood substrate covered in black lacquer and decorated principally in gold and colored hiramaki-e and takamaki-e with details in gold kirigane against a gold hirame ground; the suiteki copper; a single kiri (awl for piercing sheets of paper) decorated in gold hirame and with gilt-metal fittings; with a wood tomobako storage box 3 7/8 x 6 1/2 x 8 7/8in (10 x 16.5 x 22.7cm) Provenance Marumoto Shokai, Arts of Pacific Asia, New York, March 24, 2002 Exhibited Cornell University, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, "Scattered Gold and Midnight Gloss, Japanese Lacquer from the Anbinder Collection," March 31-July 8, 2007