Japanese - Medicine Case (Inro), late 19th century

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This tiny Japanese medicine case, called an inro, is made of gold and lacquered wood. Gold dust sprinkled onto wet lacquer gives a dappled effect to the glossy surface. It has a slightly rounded top and bottom. Five sections of equal size comprise the body of the inro. The top and bottom are pierced at each side. An purple, braided cord is threaded through the case. The inro is decorated on the lower part of one side with an arrangement of two carved, tri-petaled flowers, each featuring a fruit made of a large spherical bead of orange-red coral at the center of three long, narrow petals. Between the two flowers there is one white, tripart seed pod made of mother-of-pearl. The reverse side shows the leaves and stem of a Japanese pitcher plant. This spray has two mother-of-pearl white seed pods and a leaf done in gray lead inlay. The cord at the top has a spherical, white ivory bead (ojime) and ends in a large round disc (netsuke) made of vanilla-color ivory that serves as a weight and a sash attachment. 

Japanese

Medicine Case (Inro): Lantern Plant, late 19th century

Lacquered wood with gold, silver, and red hiramaki-e and takamaki-e with cutout gold foil on gold ground and coral, mother-of-pearl, and lead foil inlay; ivory netsuke and polished stone ojime, 7 x 5 cm (2 3/4 x 1 15/16 in.)

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Commentary

Tied at the waist in traditional Japanese dress, an inro is a small, decorative case used to carry medicine or small items such as seals.  A netsuke, often carved from ivory or wood, is the weight used to prevent the inro from slipping through an obi, the sash of a kimono.  Inro and netsuke were designed to delight those who took the time to examine their miniature detail, and on this example, the artisan used mother-of-pearl, coral, and lead to depict a Japanese lantern plant on one side and seed pods on the other. The netsuke is made from ivory, and the ojime, the bead, is a white stone. Isabella displayed seven inro in the Little Salon, many of which she probably purchased on her trip to Japan in 1883.