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Source Description
The two people on the left of this box lid's design are Portuguese traders, identifiable by their balloon-shaped pants. Facing them is a Jesuit priest in a long robe. Portuguese ships arrived in Japan in the 1540s. Imagery first made to document the appearance of the foreigners survived as decoration on later objects like this one.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
144815
label
Writing Box (Suzuribako) with Europeans
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
144815
contentType
object
title
Writing Box (Suzuribako) with Europeans
description
The two people on the left of this box lid's design are Portuguese traders, identifiable by their balloon-shaped pants. Facing them is a Jesuit priest in a long robe. Portuguese ships arrived in Japan in the 1540s. Imagery first made to document the appearance of the foreigners survived as decoration on later objects like this one.
date
1800s
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q79922320
genreSpecific
Lacquer
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
23 x 20.2 cm (9 1/16 x 7 15/16 in.)
cul
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
accession
1969.59
Source extras
tec
lacquered wood with gold maki-e, silver inlay and red lacquer on black ground
tombstone
Writing Box (Suzuribako) with Europeans (蒔絵南蛮人図硯箱), 1800s. Japan, Edo period (1615–1868). Lacquered wood with gold maki-e, silver inlay and red lacquer on black ground; 23 x 20.2 cm (9 1/16 x 7 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund, 1969.59
titleInOriginalLanguage
蒔絵南蛮人図硯箱
collection
Japanese Art
didYouKnow
The Japanese term <em>nanban</em> 南蛮 is used to describe designs like the one on this box.
creditline
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 07:26:27.840000
sourceId
144815
dept
Japanese Art
coll
Japanese Art
med
lacquered wood with gold maki-e, silver inlay and red lacquer on black ground
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
53c69a2b368dd321