Reading Stand with Chrysanthemums and Autumn Grasses
Unknown Artist
early 1600s
Medium
Wood with lacquer, sprinkled gold powder (maki-e), and metal fittings
Dimensions
53.3 × 30.5 × 45.7 cm
Classification
Lacquer
Department
Japanese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund
Accession Number
1976.15
About this artwork
Japanese reading stands often incorporate motifs associated with seasonal poetry. The combination of long, narrow, miscanthus grass, bush clover with its small, ovoid leaves, and chrysanthemum with its many-petaled blossoms is classic autumnal imagery. One lacquer technique featured prominently on the stand is sprinkled gold in low relief (hiramaki-e). Pear-skin ground design (nashiji-e) is used for the slopes of the ground and in some of the leaves.