Writing Box with Spitting Courtesan

The collection record classifies this work as lacquer. It is dated early to mid-1800s. Recorded culture or place: Japan, Edo period (1615–1868).

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OBJECT RECORD

A closer look at the details.

Museum title: Writing Box with Spitting Courtesan
Date: early to mid-1800s
Culture / origin: Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
Materials and technique: Lacquered wood with maki-e (image made of sprinkled gold dust)
Dimensions: Box: 21.6 x 19.8 x 3.2 cm (8 1/2 x 7 13/16 x 1 1/4 in.); Closed: 21 cm (8 1/4 in.); Cover: 20.7 x 20.7 cm (8 1/8 x 8 1/8 in.)
Artist / maker: Not specified by the museum
Museum: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Accession number: 1963.260

FROM THE MUSEUM

In the museum’s words

The following description is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s original English record.

The design on this writing box shows a courtesan who has just completed an impressive feat of spitting the term shinobukoi (忍恋), which could be translated as “hidden love” or “unrequited love,” on an earthen wall. The phrase appeared in classical Japanese poetry anthologies produced by nobles writing in ink on the finest decorated papers. Here, the confining walls of the brothel district become a space for public announcement in graffiti, with the medium being perhaps tea.

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