Kado is a native of the town of Wajima, on the Noto peninsula in the north of Ishikawa Prefecture, where there has been an important lacquer industry since the 18th century. Until the early 1980s he used complicated decorative techniques to produce graphic panels and other essentially two-dimensional works. This tray dates from shortly after he abandonned this mode of working in order to concentrate on what he had come to believe were the essential qualities of lacquer - the lustre and polish of the ground - and on the exploration of structure and form. The tray has a basically native shape that alludes to the wide variety of Japanese footed trays and stands used for serving food, but the extravagant geometry of its profile also reflects the artist's experience of Burmese architecture.