Japanese Maki-e Lacquer Tray Box with Cutout Design

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A Japanese lacquer box with lid and an inner tray decorated with Maki-e on a dense nashiji background. The fine … Read more A Japanese lacquer box with lid and an inner tray decorated with Maki-e on a dense nashiji background. The fine box was likely made circa 1920-30s during the Tashio period and likely used for tea ceremony. The low relief hiramaki-e depicts a gentle hilly landscape with flowering bushes with silver highlight, grasses, ferns and pines in the distant. The design was intentionally sparse, with a poetic and painterly composition. What's unusual about the box is that there is cut-out design of four characters on the lid and the wall respectively. The two words read "Deep Thought" on the lid and "Philosophical Study" on the wall. The pieced words were traced with gold fundame that renders the characters a highlighted dimension. There are also two gold maki-e characters on the side of the box "intention".
The fitted tray has a leaf motif design. The interior and base were finished in a dense nashiji. See less