λ A JAPANESE SHIBAYAMA STYLE IVORY BOX AND COVER

MEIJI PERIOD, 19TH CENTURY

The square box with rounded corners, the lid realistically carved in low relief with Kikujido, the small child holding a firefly, a woven basket and sprays of flowers behind him, the sides delicately decorated in gold and silver hiramaki-e lacquer with many chrysanthemum flowers, the inside with seven lines of calligraphy, the foot with a thin band of key fret and the base signed Baisensai Munehide with kao, 5.5cm. (2)

The story of Kikujido, "the Chrysanthemum Boy", appears in the Noh play Makurajido. The boy remains youthful 700 years after writing the lines of the Lotus Sutra gifted to him by the Emperor on chrysanthemum leaves, when dew drops had become an elixir for Immortality.