These incense containers are lidded boxes meant to hold different types of incense, such as fragrant wood or pastilles. They were made in a variety of materials - lacquer, plain wood, metal, and ceramic and for a number of specific uses within the tea ceremony. The museum owns twelve incense containers that range in date from the Kamakura to the Edo period and which, as a group, have been designated Important Art Objects. All are small with fitted covers; the rims are reinforced with tin, and designs in maki-e decorated the inside of the lids. The decorations on the top of the containers fall into several categories: compositions of pine or plum trees growing from mounds of earth; scenery featuring cranes and the like, and designs of plovers, butterflies, or rabbits scattered over the surface.
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