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Koma Kansai II - Medicine Case (Inro), early 19th century

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This slender rectangular medicine box, or Inro, depicts on each of its two sides people sweeping pine needles under a tree.  On one side on the right, the tree is depicted in lacquered gold, with a wide trunk, thick heavy roots, and pine needles on top.  A heavy gold cloud sits above the tree.  Under the tree is an old woman with a thin broom.  Her robe is also lacquered gold and on her head a blue scarf holds up her hair. The neat rows of a field, also rendered in blue and gold, stretch out in the background.  On the reverse side, an old man rakes the ground under two branches of the pine tree.  The heavy cloud continues on the top of this side, as well.  The old man wears wide light colored pants, a loose gray jacket, and a blue scarf on his head.  The neatly ordered field also appears in the background of this side.   Four thin lines indicated where the different trays of this Inro fit together. Blue string holds all of the trays together on both sides of the rectangular box.  A small sliding bead, called a Ojimé and here painted with chrysanthemums, holds the two strings together above the Inro.  The ends of the string are held together at the top by a small rectangular toggle, or netsuke. 

Koma Kansai II (1767 - 1835)

Medicine Case (Inro): Scenes from a Noh Play, early 19th century

Lacquered wood with gold, silver, and red hiramaki-e and togidashimaki-e with cut out gold foil on nashiji ground; lacquered netsuke with gold and silver hiramaki-e on black ground; painted bead ojime , 8.6 x 6 cm (3 3/8 x 2 3/8 in.)

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Commentary

The Noh play Takasago concerns longevity and happy marriage, themes here represented by an elderly couple who clear needles from under a pine tree, revered for its long life. The netsuke is a small lacquered box; the clasp is a painted bead. Signed: Koma Kansai [1767–1835].

Source: “Japanese Objects,” in Journeys East: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Asia, edited by Alan Chong and Noriko Murai (Boston: ISGM and Gutenberg Periscope, 2009): 414.