Box for personal accessories (tebako)

Tebako were portable boxes that usually held sets of smaller, similarly decorated boxes that would contain a woman's toiletries, combs, mirrors and other personal items. The striking decorative style of this example is known as Kodaiji maki-e, named after the mortuary temple in Kyoto dedicated to the memory of the powerful warrior Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598). Professional lacquerers of the Koami school, who were commissioned to produce the architectural decoration and objects for the Kodaiji, employed distinctive designs featuring relatively flat, large-scale motifs simply delineated in fine gold powder in the technique termed maki-e and reddish gold-flecked technique known as nashiji.

The fresh, vibrant style associated with Kodaiji appealed to the taste for innovative design that prevailed in Kyoto at the turn of the seventeenth century. The decoration of this box is divided diagonally into broad zones with two different motifs--wisteria and seashells with seaplants--set against contrasting grounds of nashiji and black lacquer.