Incense Box with Dragon Design

Description

This incense box is colorfully decorated with the technique of oxhorn plating. The oxhorn was cut, soaked in water, boiled, and then pressed into thin translucent sheets. Since oxhorns are usually rather small, dozens of them were required to fully decorate even a small wooden object. The lid of this container is colorfully illustrated with the imagery of a dragon amid clouds deemed as an auspicious symbol, and its side presents flying dragon and phoenix following one after another.

Provenance

(Masaaki Yoshida, Kyoto, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (?-1988); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1988-)

Incense Box with Dragon Design

[]

1900s

Accession Number

1988.54

Medium

Painted wood with flattened ox-horn inlay

Dimensions

Diameter: 7.2 cm (2 13/16 in.); Overall: 3.6 cm (1 7/16 in.)

Classification

Miscellaneous

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund