Writing box with ducks and reeds

This writing box, which holds a tray for brushes, an inkstone, and a water dripper representing a lotus pond (lotus leaves and flowing water), is of a type made commonly in Japan in the late 1600s and early 1700s, sometimes for export to Europe. The front of the lid bears a scene of ducks swimming at water's edge amidst reeds, arrowhead, and aquatic mallow, while the interior has a more generic landscape with pine and other trees overlooking a turbulent sea. The entire box is executed in variations on a decorative technique called makie ("sprinkled pictures"), in which gold and other metals are sprinkled into wet lacquer to form designs.