The lidded box depicting a kingfisher by a stream is by Fujimoto Yoshimichi (1919-92). formerly Professor of Ceramics and then President of Tokyo University of Arts. The design is based on sketches made on the banks of the river that flows past the Fujimoto family home just outside Tokyo. Stylistically it is rooted firmly in the world of traditional Japanese bird and flower painting (kachoga). The box dates from the last of several transitional periods in Fujimoto's career when he moved away from a realistic but relatively formal mode of painting in clear enamel colours to the much more expressive style of his last years. A student of both Tomimoto Kenkichi (1886-1963) and Kato Hajime, Fujimoto was made a Living National Treasure in 1986 for his work in decorated porcelain. One of his greatest contributions was the development of enamel colours that could be applied one on top of the other to give an effect similar to painting in watercolours. The sophistication of this technology is reflected in the treatment of the kingfisher, with a similarly painterly approach to the use of underglaze pigments being evident in the depiction of the flowing stream.