Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River

Japan

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 223

Alongside a portrait of its author, Fujiwara no Ietaka (1158–1237), the poem on the lid of this writing box is rendered in fine lacquer decoration (hiramaki-e) to imitate calligraphy in ink. The embellishment of the box’s interior, with autumn maple leaves amid the waves of a river, is inspired by the poem, which reads:

竜田川　紅葉をとづる　うすごほり
わたらば是も　なかやたえなむ

On Tatsuta River,
a layer of red maple leaves
is trapped within thin ice,
and if we were to go across
the brocade would be torn.

—Trans. John T. Carpenter

Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan

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Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan

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