This incense box is in the shape of a manju, a traditional round Japanese sweetmeat. It is decorated with branches of plum blossom and pine shoots, complete with roots. Inside the lid is an encoded inscription in ink. This piece may have been selected for export from a lot originally destined for the domestic market, diameter 8.2cm, height 4.3cm.
The 1835 Burghley Inventory records: ‘Japan Closet, Glass case opposite the window, Two round Boxes. Black & Gold’. (See JWA 09073).
The 1867 Burghley Inventory records: ‘Cabinets, No 88 Japan Closet, 2 black and gold japan circular boxes’. (See JWA 09073).
