Lacquerware

"Tu'unda-bon tray with design of figures and landscape in metal-leaf decoration"


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Height: 29.6 Diameter: 49.0
Edo period

This tray, round in shape and with sloping shoulders, is reinforced with a foliate-edged panel and provided with four elegantly shaped, cat's paw-style legs. The round cover, constructed in the manner of that on an inro, has a slightly bulging shape. The entire surface is covered with red lacquer, and the cover is decorated with a depiction of figures in landscape in metal-leaf decoration. Along the shoulder and on the underside of the body are eight matching medallions with two alternating patterns: a shippo-tsunagi motif of interlocking circles and a peony arabesque. The rims of the cover and the body are ornamented with a wave pattern; beneath this, on the reinforcing panel, is a design of six-petaled flowers surrounded by arabesque scrolls. "Tu'unda" refers to the master of the house, and a tu'unda-bon would have been set at the host's place as one of the utensils used in the serving of Ryukyu food when entertaining guests. It was imported from China.


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