Three-Tiered Box adorned with Recycled Sword Fittings
Culture
Japanese
Dateabout 1900, based on elements from the 1700s and 1800s
Mediumsilver and silver alloys, copper and copper alloys, gold and gold alloys
Dimensions6 × 5 × 5 cm (2 3/8 × 1 15/16 × 1 15/16 in.), 10 oz (weight)
ClassificationsMetalwork
Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection
Object number2014.543
Label TextBoxes like this were used in Japan, but this example was probably made for the western market at a time when Japanese art was all the rage in Europe and America. It is made with recycled kozuka, decorative handles from the small byknife that accompanied the katana. The lid is decorated with a menuki, a grip adornment from a katana. The box was probably made after 1876, when the Japanese government forbade samurai wearing the katana.ProvenanceGift to Museum on March 27, 1943 from Mrs. Sumner Pingree (nee Mary Weld) (Boston, MA); from Weld estate.
Collection transfer from Higgins Armory, January 2014.On View
Not on viewCollections
Myōchin Yoshimichi
1600s–1700s
