Suntory Museum of Art
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Notable Works
Tea caddy with stripes in mother-of-pearl inlay and maki-e

Notable Works

Lacquerware

Tea caddy with stripes in mother-of-pearl inlay and maki-e

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Place of production or style: Domestic Nanban lacquerware
Number of components: 1
Dimensions (in cm): W. 20.0, D. 13.6, H. 12.6
Date of production: Edo period 17th century

　The tea caddy is a box for holding the set of tools needed to perform the tea ceremony outdoors. The exterior of the lid and the four sides are decorated with a continuous pattern of stripes. The stripes are composed of foreign designs such as Namban arabesque, wave patterns, strung pearl patterns, and sawtooth patterns executed in hiramaki-e, mother-of-pearl, and inlaid metal on black lacquer. The striped pattern became fashionable when foreign traders brought in striped fabrics from Southeast Asia in the Momoyama and early Edo periods. As a design favored by the foreigners, the stripes were widely adopted for dyeing and weaving, pottery, and lacquerware.

Notable Works

Tea caddy with stripes in mother-of-pearl inlay and maki-e

SUNTORY MUSEUM of ART