Card Box thumbnail 1
Card Box thumbnail 2
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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Japan, Room 45, The Toshiba Gallery

Card Box

18th century (Made)
Place of origin

This is a box for playing a poem card game which merged elements of European playing cards with the traditional, Japanese shell-matching game. By the Edo period the game involved over two hundred cards, one hundred illustrated with an image of a famous poet along with the beginning of a poem and the other half bearing the remainder of the poem. The decoration on the box refers to classical Japanese literature with a poem by the compiler of the 'Hundred Poet List', Fujiwara Teika (1162-1241). The poem reads:

'Reigning in my horse,
no shelter to wipe my sleeves,
snowy twilight at the Sano crossing.'

The sides of the box depict the Eightfold Bridge taken from the 10th century Tales of Ise.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 10 parts.

  • Poem Card Box
  • Lid
  • Liner
  • Liner
  • Tiered Box
  • Tier
  • Lid
  • Tiered Box
  • Tier
  • Lid
Materials and techniques
Wood covered in black lacquer with gold and silver hiramaki-e lacquer and foil with gold <i>nashiji</i> lacquer interiors (box and liners), silver with gold and copper inlay (tiered card boxes).
Brief description
The lid of the box depicts a horseman at the Sano crossing together with a poem;the sides of the box depict the Eightfold Bridge and irises in black lacquer with gold and silver hiramaki-e (low sprinkled lacquer) and foil; the interior is in gold nashiji (pear-sprinkled ground) lacquer and the silver boxes are decorated with autumn plants.
Physical description
The lid of the box depicts a horseman at the Sano crossing together with a poem;the sides of the box depict the Eightfold Bridge and irises in black lacquer with gold and silver hiramaki-e (low sprinkled lacquer) and foil; the interior is in gold nashiji (pear-sprinkled ground) lacquer and the silver boxes are decorated with autumn plants.
Dimensions
  • Height: 11.6cm
  • Length: 15.8cm
  • Width: 10.2cm
Content description
Horseman, Sano, river
Credit line
Sage Memorial Gift
Subjects depicted
Summary
This is a box for playing a poem card game which merged elements of European playing cards with the traditional, Japanese shell-matching game. By the Edo period the game involved over two hundred cards, one hundred illustrated with an image of a famous poet along with the beginning of a poem and the other half bearing the remainder of the poem. The decoration on the box refers to classical Japanese literature with a poem by the compiler of the 'Hundred Poet List', Fujiwara Teika (1162-1241). The poem reads:

'Reigning in my horse,
no shelter to wipe my sleeves,
snowy twilight at the Sano crossing.'

The sides of the box depict the Eightfold Bridge taken from the 10th century Tales of Ise.
Collection
Accession number
W.311 to I-1921

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Record createdDecember 15, 1999
Record URL
Download as: JSONIIIF Manifest