Cosmetic box with design of a pair of deer

This cosmetic box is decorated with the charming image of a stag and its mate leaping through a wild meadow. Scattered kikyo (Chinese bellflower), susuki (Chinese silver grass), and nogiku (aster) indicate that the season is autumn. In classical Japanese poetry the plaintive cry of a deer calling for its mate also symbolized autumn, but here the pair are shown happily frolicking together.

The design is delicately rendered in colored lacquer on a black lacquer surface, in a method known as tenbori kinma (carved dots filled with lacquer). After carving the design on a previously lacquered surface, each color is applied and polished down. The varied sizes and density of the carved dots, the angle of the knife blade, and variations in carving depth allow the artist to create a shading effect, introducing an element of three-dimensionality to the design. For his ability as a kinma artist, Joshin was designated as an Intangible Cultural Property, commonly known as a “Living National Treasure” in 1956.