Unknown artist

late Edo / Meiji period, 18th/19th century

1800-1912

Tea Caddy

A small and delicate lacquered tea box in the form of a chatsubo “tea jar”. Beautifully worked in gold and red hiramakie depicting peonies on a cloth wrapped lid with a gold kinji ground body just falling short of the base to simulate glaze.

The storage box has inscribed on the lid in red lacquer that this has come from Tofuku-ji temple in Kyoto. Tofuku-ji is a Buddhist temple in Hiyashiyama-ku in Kyoto. Tōfuku-ji takes its name from two temples in Nara, Todai-ji and Kofuku-ji. It is one of the so-called Kyoto Gozan or "five great Zen temples of Kyoto".

Tōfuku-ji was founded in 1236 by the imperial chancellor Kujo Michiie. The temple was burned down but rebuilt in the 15th century according to original plans. Tofuku-ji was one of the five temples of the five-mountain system.

Unknown artist

92mm x 60mm