Covered box with flower and insect motifs

A covered box of this type is used as a daily utensil to store various articles, from food to cosmetic items and personal accessories. Its entire outer layer is carved with sophisticated ornamental patterns, including a large lobed panel on the top of the cover. Around the walls are alternating stylized scrolls of lotus and peony. The decorative scene within the lobed panel contains a peacock in a rock-and-peony garden, surrounded by bees, butterflies, and floral sprays that symbolize auspicious symbols of culture, honor, and wealth.

From the 1400s on, Chinese lacquerware became a major good to be exported to Japan. This work is one of the many examples that was partially re-lacquered by Japanese craftsmen to make it suitable for local aesthetic or personal demand. Interestingly, the surface of the box is visibly coated with black lacquer, entirely covering the original red ground. The addition of the black layer probably indicates that Japanese lacquer makers modified an existing Chinese piece for funeral rituals in a Japanese temple, for which a red-colored box would have been inappropriate.