Covered Circular Box (One of a Pair)

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.

Watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer over brass layer on pasteboard

Olive wood

Huangpu ware: light gray stoneware covered all over with white slip, the decoration painted in localized areas of discontinuous dark brown glaze. From the Huangpu kilns, Tongchuan, Shaanxi province

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

Metal

Lacquer on wood with decoration in black and gold utilizing the hiramaki-e (low-relief sprinkled design), takamaki-e (high-relief sprinkled design), and nashiji ("pear-skinned" ground) techniques; shakudo (copper-gold alloy) fittings

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

Silver and wax

Lacquered wood with brass fittings and with inlays of mother of pearl, tortoiseshell, twisted wire, and metal filings

Lacquer on wood