This small box is carefully decorated with instruments for gagaku (literally ‘elegant music’), the traditional court music of Japan. The genre was codified during the Heian period (794–1185) and encompasses styles introduced from Korea (komagaku), China (tōgaku) and beyond. At this time, courtiers and officials regularly performed stylised dances as part of their official duties.

On the cover of the box in exceptional takamakie is a large two-headed barrel drum known as a kakko, bearing the Shintō tomoe (triple comma) motif and decorated with peony sprays in green and red. The drum stand is a fine example of mokume-gane, a woodgrain pattern achieved by layering contrasting metals and then carving them to expose different hues. Around the sides are a transverse flute (komabue), a mouth organ (shō), a plectrum for a lute (biwa) and the removable bridges for a thirteen-stringed zither (koto). Together, the instruments evoke the refined atmosphere of the Imperial Court. On the underside of the lid, a striped, coloured canopy suggests the more jovial setting of a cherry-blossom festival, when revellers would gather outdoors behind vibrant textile hangings. This diminutive and intricately decorated box would surely have appealed to Queen Mary, whose love of small, refined objets d’art is reflected in the many precious gifts she received from family and friends.

Text adapted from Chinese and Japanese Works of Art in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen: Volume III and Japan: Courts and Culture (2020)