Minneapolis Institute of Art

Storage cabinet for inrō

Studio or Follower of Shibata Zeshin

Date

late 19th century

Medium

Lacquered wood, metal, velvet

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

This lacquer storage cabinet was made to store a collection of inrō, small containers for holding a variety of personal items that could be hung from the sash of one’s robe. Perhaps surprising given that function, the exterior of the cabinet features an assortment of motifs that mimic metal objects associated with Japan’s warrior culture: sword guards (tsuba), dagger hilts (kozuka), and, on the inside, arrowheads. Each of these motifs mimics the artistry of Japanese metalworkers in the 1800s and several even have signatures by famous metal artists, but they are actually lacquer. In fact, each of the motifs was created by applying layers of colored lacquer in reverse order to plaster molds of actual tsuba and kozuka. Asia

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