Incense container (kogo) with cart wheels in flowing water (katawaraguruma)

片輪車文蒔絵螺鈿香合 明治～大正時代

This tiny lacquered box was made to hold precious pieces of aromatic incense wood. It might have been displayed in the alcove of a tearoom. The design of wheels half submerged in rippling waves derives from the Heian period (794–1185) practice of washing the wheels of ox carts in the Kamo River, which runs down the east side of the city of Kyoto. Because such carts would have belonged to the imperial family or the courtiers, this motif has aristocratic associations.