Japanese - Three-Tiered Lunch Box (Bento-bako), late 19th century - early 20th century

Japanese

Three-Tiered Lunch Box (Bento-bako), late 19th century - early 20th century

Lacquered cedar

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Object details

Accession number

CR34n29.a-d

Primary Creator

Japanese

Full title

Three-Tiered Lunch Box (Bento-bako)

Creation Date

late 19th century - early 20th century

Provenance


Gift from Okakura Kakuzo (1862-1913), Japanese art historian and philosopher, to Denman Waldo Ross (1853-1935), art collector and design theorist, 1908.

Gift from Denman Ross to Isabella Stewart Gardner, 27 August 1916.

Display Media

Lacquered cedar

Web Commentary

Okakura Kakuzō (1862-1913) gave this lunch box to his friend Denman Waldo Ross (1853-1935) in 1908 when they were traveling together in Japan. Ross knew that Okakura and Isabella Stewart Gardner were close friends and so, after Okakura’s death, Ross gave the lunch box to Gardner in 1916. 

Permanent Gallery Location

Chinese Room

Bibliography

William Thrasher and Caroline Graboys. "The Beginnings of Chanoyu in America." Chanoyu Quarterly (1984), pp. 32-33. (as Japanese)
Alan Chong and Noriko Murai. Journeys East: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Asia. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2009), pp. 35-36, 393, 410-11, 415, 418, fig. 2. (as Japanese, as dated late 19th century or early 20th century)

Rights and reproductions

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Commentary

Okakura Kakuzō (1862-1913) gave this lunch box to his friend Denman Waldo Ross (1853-1935) in 1908 when they were traveling together in Japan. Ross knew that Okakura and Isabella Stewart Gardner were close friends and so, after Okakura’s death, Ross gave the lunch box to Gardner in 1916.