Incense container with squirrel and grapevine designs

Description

This small three-tiered box has an overlapping lid with cusped sides. The entire exterior of the box is coated with black lacquer inlaid with tiny flecks of mother-of-pearl, as well as motifs and raised lines built up with a red lacquer and painted over in gold. An overall design of grapevines is rendered in gilt and raden (pieces of mother-of-pearl), and on the lid some larger pieces of mother-of-pearl originally formed a squirrel. Each bunch of grapes is in mother-of-pearl with gilt outlines, while the leaves are done in either mother-of-pearl or gilt. Although it has worn away from most of the mother-of-pearl leaves, black-lacquer painted veins originally adorned all of the leaves. Along the base of the box are floral scroll designs in gilt. The rich brown interiors of each section of the box are scattered with gold flecks (hirame). The box was produced in the Ryukyu Islands, an archipelago spanning from the southern tip of Japan to the northern tip of Taiwan, and was used for storing incense.