Suzuribako with cranes
Item number: T-3266Size: H 2.2" x L 9.6" x W 8.7" (5.5 x 24.3 x 22.2 cm)
Age: 1920s
A suzuribako writing box with a cover decoration of five cranes by a meandering stream; the cranes, four adults and one chick are shown in brightly polished takamakie relief gold lacquer in three different shades with hiramakie details on a roiro mirror-black ground. The clouds are rendered with nashiji and makibokashi details using very fine gold powder, and the stream is crafted in togidashi gold lacquer.
The inside of the writing box is depicted with a design of a flowering plum tree and young pine seedlings in takamakie with kirigane inlays and striking mother-of-pearl inlays. A removable tray holds the original suzuri ink stone, the rim of which is ornately decorated in the oki-birame technique with individually inlaid pieces of gold foil, and the original mixed-metal suiteki water dropper in the shape of the rising sun, partially hidden by clouds. The inside and the bottom are decorated with evenly sprinkled nashiji gold flakes and the rims with kinji gold lacquer.
The cranes depicted on the cover of the box are Nabezuru or Hooded Cranes (Grus monacha), a type of crane that spends its summers in Siberia and reappears in Japan, Korea, and China during the winters. Arriving in the winter, it has become one of many symbols of the New Year, along with the rising sun, young pine seedlings, and the flowering plum, all of which are included within the design of this lacquer box. The New Year symbols indicate renewal, a steadfastness of purpose, and auspicious beginnings. All these can be seen in the depiction of the cranes, where the idea of renewal is literally shown with a newly born chick, protected by the adults around it. Thus a wish for healthy offspring accompanies the seasonal message, conferring the writing box with numerous happy meanings.
It is likely that this writing box was used at New Year, perhaps in the ceremony of kakizome, an important ritual for calligraphers performed on the second day of the New Year. In this ceremony, the calligrapher would be seated facing in an auspicious direction, and, after opening his or her writing box, would write out a Japanese waka poem with appropriately promising content.
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