Covered Circular Box (One of a Pair)

White stoneware with russet-brown glaze

Off-white stoneware with pale celadon glaze over decoration applied in white slip, the decoration embellished with incising and with touches of iron-brown slip in localized areas. Possibly from the Yaozhou kilns, near Tongchuan, Shaanxi province.

Wood with metal fittings

Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer over tin layer on pasteboard

Silver with parcel gilding

Red lacquer

Lacquer on wood with decoration in gold and silver utilizing the hiramaki-e (low-relief sprinkled design), togidashi maki-e (sprinkled design revealed by polishing), and nashiji ("pear-skinned" ground) techniques

Blue-and-white ware: porcelain with decoration reserved in white against a cobalt blue ground, the central medallion on the cover with molded decoration under pale, sky-blue glaze

Lacquer on wood with Kōdaiji-style decoration in gold utilizing the hiramaki-e (low-relief sprinkled design) and e-nashiji ("pear-skinned" ground) techniques; gilt-copper fittings

Lacquer on wood with decoration in zonsei-nuri (incised and painted lacquer) and gold utilizing the togidashi maki-e (sprinkled design revealed by polishing) technique; silk cord

Lacquer on wood with decoration in gold, silver, and sabi urushi (thick lacquer paste) utilizing the hiramaki-e (low-relief sprinkled design), takamaki-e (high-relief sprinkled design), nashiji ("pear-skinned" ground), and e-nashiji (pictorial "pear-skinned" ground) techniques and with glazed-ceramic and raden (mother-of-pearl) inlays; stone and lacquered-copper fittings