Morning glories (incense wrapper)

Decorated paper wrappers (kozutsumi) like this one held aromatic twigs for the incense ceremony (kodo), an aristocratic pastime that spread throughout Japanese society in the 1600s. Ogata Korin painted several like it, ingeneously adapting motifs from nature for this purpose. Here a decoration of morning glories was painted on gold foil affixed to silk. Elements of the Rinpa style include sensuous, curving forms, defined in ink and color rather than outline; use of the pooled ink technique known as tarashikomi;and rhythmic surface patterns.

As the creases indicate, the wrapper was folded into a square inward from the right, then left, up from the bottom and down from the top. Unfolding the wrapper, one would see a succession of perfect designs: glimmering gold rectangles with blossoms in rich mineral blue, leaves in green or black, and white buds. Scholars believe this example was an outer wrapper, once used to enclose several smaller incense packets.