Antique Japanese gold lacquer inro with 4 compartments. Decorated with a scene depicting a cottage high in the mountains. On one side, a small stream meanders by a thatched roof building with doors opening to a garden surrounded by a low fence and opened by a tall gate. A large, blossoming plum tree stretches it's branches dramatically over the roof and a mist floats over the top of the scene. The other side of the inro depicts a churning river with ragged outcroppings of rock. In the distance, tall mountains stretch upward until they are lost in a cloudy haze. Created with gold maki-e lacquer technique and flecks of gold over a black lacquer ground. The interior is covered in fine, dense gold nashiji. With an Edo Period boxwood netsuke of a man with a folded fan and with a round cloisonné ojime.

Early Meiji Period (1868-1912)

Dimensions: 3 5/8" high x 2" wide