Medicine Case (Inro)
late 19th century
Japanese
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
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.
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