Large Drum Cylinder with Bag Motif Makie Decoration

Momoyama period, 16th century
Height, 28.4cm; mouth diameter, 11.2cm

The drum cylinder for a large drum. Coated overall in black lacquer. 8 small and large bags are scattered over the surface in a Kodaiji makie technique of gold hiramakie, enashiji patterning, and tsuke-gaki lacquer drawing. The free-floating arrangement of the bags' cords is a particularly interesting element of this drum cylinder and reveals an extremely skilled use of kaki-wari lacquer drawing technique.

Several examples of this type of makie decorated drum cylinder remain from the Momoyama period, and many of them share this kind of expansively chic elegance. AH