Late Edo period to Meiji period (19th century)
Gift from the Homma family
This is a case used to house katana swords, featuring plum blossoms, bamboo and the hollyhock crest of the Tokugawa family, in a sprinkled gold maki-e design on nashiji lacquer. Frequently used to decorate larger surfaces, nashiji––literally ‘pear-skin ground’––typically refers to the technique of scattering nashiji-ko, large, irregularly-shaped flakes of gold, over many layers of translucent orange-tinted lacquer. Polishing the lacquer exposes the flakes and results in an uneven surface texture, which is said to resemble the pear skins of its namesake. The design of the hollyhock crest, which changed over time, suggests that it was made in the late Edo period or later.
Although the box’s accompanying note of authenticity states that it is a “sword case,” it is thought to have originally accommodated letters and papers before being repurposed as a box for katana swords.