Museum Collection

Museum Collection

Tobacco Tray

Tobacco tray with gourd leaf and cricket in maki-e on a gourd foundation

Tobacco tray with gourd leaf and cricket in maki-e on a gourd foundation
Date Meiji period

A tobacco tray made by gouging out the flesh of a dried bottle gourd and applying maki-e directly onto the hardened foundation to create gourd leaf and cricket images. The ingenious way in which the material is used and the maki-e is distributed is quite astonishing.