Weiner Mihályné szerk.: Az Iparművészeti Múzeum Évkönyvei 9. (Budapest, 1966)

HOPP FERENC MÚZEUM — MUSÉE FERENC HOPP - Horváth, Tibor: Two Japanese Lacquer Boxes of the Early 18th Century

Fig. 2. Inside parts of a box for letter-paper b

) Due to the unusual high lifted visual angle, the bird's eye view, the prows of three out of four boats are virtually rising in the air. At the same time, the boats are not only simple, but rather clumsy, the water surface is indicated rather than illustrated, all these elements of the drawing accentuate the boats as the main motif. c) Most unharmonious to the gold lacquer background, the broad band of the coarse lead plate cannot be recognized as a pontoon bridge without the reference of the verse written with raised silver characters (ji and kana

) and from a modern viewpoint it is rather suggestive of a paper slip with a blurb across the cover of a book. Strangely enough, Köetsu started the writing (Azuma-ji no Sano no funa-bashi kakete nomi omoi wataru o shim hito-zq naki, the rough meaning of which is: "The pontoon-bridge at Sano in the East (reminds me) the love that spans the void between us, but alas, she does not know how much I love her",

4 from the collection of Go-sen wakashü) on this lead plate to extend it first to the upper part (with the prows of the boats) and finally to the bottom. (i^ma-oasÄi-pontoon-bridge was

—omitted, assuming that it will be understood from the representation.) 4 Art Treasures of Japan, Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai, Tokyo, 1960. vol. II. p. 508. See also: Sherwood F. Moran, Lacquer Writing Box by Köetsu, Oriental Art, VII/1961. pp. 75-78. 12 Iparművészeti évkönyv IX. 177