Tobacco box, lid and ojime, Japan, ca. 1850-1890

Tobacco box, lid and ojime in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (museum number W.33-1909), made in Japan, dated ca. 1850-1890, attributed to Shibata Zeshin. The museum's brief description reads: Tobacco box with a bamboo lid, ojime and cord, dry-lacquer body covered in black lacquer with wheat and barley in black and gold lacquer, signed Zeshin, Japan, ca. 1850-1890. Museum description: Tobacco box (tonkotsu)with a bamboo lid, the substrate made by fixing hemp over a mould with lacquer, a technique often known as 'dry lacquer' (kanshitsu) in the form of a rectangular container with rounded corners, being wider at the bottom than the top, covered in black-brown lacquer with wheat concentrated on one side in black lacquer and barley on the other side in gold lacquer; the flat lid is of bamboo, cut to optimise the grain. Attached to the box is also an ojime (sliding bead) on a cord, the ojime being decorated with scrolls in coloured guri (layers of different-coloured lacquer carved with distinctive scrolls in V-shaped cuts to reveal the sequence of layers). The museum records it as kanshitsu (substrate made by fixing hemp over a mould with lacquer, often known as 'dry lacquer') covered in black-brown lacquer, with takamaki-e (a maki-e technique in which parts of the design can…, measuring Height 5.08 cm; Width 9.52 cm; Depth 4.12 cm. These details come from the museum's own record; how far this object represents a wider collectible type has not yet been independently verified.