Sale The Met Store Momoyama Cranes and Flowers Lacquer Box

Gifts for art lovers.

This elegant composition of auspicious cranes among flowers, originally presented in a seasonal progression from spring to winter, is a suggestion of longevity. The decoration on ourstriking lacquer box comes from a lavish six-panel folding screen made in late 16th-century Japan during the Momoyama period (1573–1615), when images with exaggerated, high-relief details were popular. Vivid colors and strong ink outlines against a golden background are characteristic of Kano Motonobu (Japanese, 1476–1559), founder of the famous Kano school of painting, while the boldness is evocative of his grandson Kano Eitoku (Japanese, 1543–1590).