Writing Box (Suzuribako) with Europeans (1800s): Art, History and Details

Writing Box (Suzuribako) with Europeans (1800s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

For many Japanese patrons, objects decorated with images of foreigners offered the rare opportunity to see westerners. The two men on the left were likely Portuguese traders, identifiable by their balloon-shaped pants. The man on the right is a Jesuit priest. Portuguese traders arrived in Japan in 1543 and soon after Christian missionaries began to create outposts there. By the early 17th century, Christianity was outlawed and the Portuguese were forced out of Japan. This object was created during the short period when the Portuguese were allowed in Japan.

Object facts

• Title: Writing Box (Suzuribako) with Europeans
• Date: 1800s
• Type: Lacquer
• Technique: lacquered wood with gold maki-e, silver inlay, and red lacquer on black ground
• Dimensions: 23 x 20.2 cm (9 1/16 x 7 15/16 in.)
• Collection: Japanese Art
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 1969.59.a

Collection credit

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.