A RARE AND FINE RYUKYUAN LACQUER ‘CHRYSANTHEMUM BLOSSOMS’ TANZAKUBAKO (POEM SLIP BOX), PRESENTED BY LADY KAWAMURA YOSHIMASU IN 1922

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A RARE AND FINE RYUKYUAN LACQUER ‘CHRYSANTHEMUM BLOSSOMS’ TANZAKUBAKO (POEM SLIP BOX), PRESENTED BY LADY KAWAMURA YOSHIMASU IN 1922 Japan, Ryukyu Islands, c. 1922, Taisho period (1912-1926) Rectangular in form with a gently arched section, supported on four corner feet, and fitted with an overhanging cover, bearing a finely polished vermilion-red ground, and decorated with thick lacquer in high relief Ryukyuan style, colored in various green and cream tones, to depict a cluster of blossoming chrysanthemums on leafy stems. The interior of the case similarly finished in red lacquer, while the underside presents a lustrous roiro ground. LENGTH 40 cm With the original wood storage box (tomobako), inscribed on the top of the cover: Tanzaku-bako, Ryukyu-nuri kiku-moyo, ikko 短冊箱、琉球塗菊模様、壹個 [The poem slip storage box, decorated in the Ryukyu lacquer with chrysanthemum motif, one item]. The reverse of the cover inscribed: Taisho juichinen rokugatsu hatsuka, Kyumu kantoku Kawamura Masuo fujin, Chugen no sanden no setsu kenjo, Choin 大正十一年六月二十日、宮務監督河村善益夫人、中元之参殿之節献上、長印 [On June 20, Taisho 11 (1922), presented by Lady Kawamura Yoshimasu, on behalf of her husband Kawamura Yoshimasu, Supervisor of Japanese Imperial Palace Affairs, attending the Chugen ceremony, Choin]. Kawamura Yoshimasu (1858–1924) was a prominent Japanese jurist and statesman. Born in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, as the third son of a samurai of the Kaga Domain, he graduated from the Ministry of Justice Law School in 1884 and began a distinguished career in the judiciary. He served as prosecutor and judge in multiple district and appellate courts, including the Supreme Court, and later became chief prosecutor of the Tokyo Court of Appeals. Kawamura also contributed to legal reform through the Legal Investigation Committee, held the presidency of Kansai University from 1905 to 1907, and, following his retirement in 1921, was appointed to the House of Peers and served in the Takeda Imperial Household Agency. Ryukyuan lacquerware exemplifies a form and style of lacquerwork native to the Ryukyu Islands, Japan, that has traditionally remained distinct from neighboring cultural traditions, despite clear influences from Chinese, Japanese, and Southeast Asian practices. As the Chinese lacquer tree (Toxicodendron vernicifluum) does not occur naturally in the Ryukyu Islands, the primary material for lacquer production was historically obtained exclusively through trade. Consequently, both techniques and decorative motifs of this lacquerware were shaped by artistic currents introduced to the region through these commercial exchanges. Lacquer practice in the islands therefore achieved significant development only in the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century. This lacquerware is characterized by the use of motifs derived from indigenous Ryukyuan visual culture, the frequent incorporation of inlaid seashells as part of its decoration, and, above all, a marked preference for red lacquer, which is often deeper and more luminous than that found in Chinese or mainland Japanese examples. It is produced by combining raw lacquer with red pigment in approximately equal proportions, yielding a vivid blood-red coloration when exposed to sunlight.

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