Box with designs of wildflowers going to seed, one of a pair

柴田是真作　春草種四分一地蒔絵小箱
So subtle are the designs on these boxes that you might
not notice them on first glance.
Close examination reveals that the boxes are decorated
on the top, sides, and interior with delicate designs of
spring wildflowers and plants: dandelions, milk vetch,
shepherd's purse, horsetails, and violet.
Instead of showing the plants in full blossom, Zeshin has
chosen to portray them at the end of their flowering season.
The dandelion heads have sent delicate white seeds
floating into the air, while the milk vetch and violets have
already put out seedpods.
Zeshin's work rejects ostentation in favor of subtlety,
sophistication, and sensitivity to the natural world. The
boxes' subdued color imitates the look of metal objects
made of an alloy of copper and silver (shibuichi), an effect
achieved by combining lacquer with powdered charcoal
and tin. Their meticulous craftsmanship and elegant,
unfussy design would have imbued them with the quality
of chic, or iki, in the eyes of nineteenth-century Edoites.