Portable Cabinet with Hosoge-Inspired Floral Design

A rectangular portable cabinet lacquered in roiro, red, dark green and gold, raised on a stepped plinth and carried by a shaped roiro handle that spans the top, its ends descending in a cusped, stepped profile. The front is framed in polished black with softly rounded upper corners and closed by a pair of hinged doors. Each door holds a raised red panel within a red border, decorated with a symmetrical floral arabesque inspired by hosoge, worked in dark green lacquer and outlined in fine gold lacquer lines. The scrolls radiate from a central quatrefoil medallion set with four small lozenges of mother-ofpearl. Foliate corner ornaments in the same palette, each centred on a small red rosette, frame both doors. The doors are mounted with cusped shibuichi hinges and a central clasp with flower-shaped plates. The sides, top and back are plain red, the back panel framed in roiro; the interior, fitted with a single shelf, and the inner faces of the doors are lacquered plain black.

Hosoge, literally "precious flower", is an imaginary bloom rather than a real species: a fanciful fusion of flowers such as the peony and lotus, developed into a richly scrolling ornament in Tang dynasty China. The motif was transmitted to Japan in the eighth century, and many examples survive among the treasures of the Shosoin in Nara. Closely associated with Buddhist art, it adorned temple architecture, the haloes of Buddhist images and ritual objects.

Condition: Very good; fine light surface scratches and a small abrasion to the red lacquer of the top, and faint scattered spotting to the black lacquer of the underside