This remarkable lacquer tray is part of a series of mostly antique and vintage items that we recovered from the storehouse of a retired construction contractor. His house is located in the southern part of Kyoto, where buildings from the Edo and Meiji periods still stand...

Miniature wooden shrine with hinged doors, enclosing a sculpture of the buddhist deity Bishamonten, guardian of the north, protector of the Buddhist teaching and of the nation.
Standing on a pedestal, he is represented dressed in armor, holding a baton in his right hand and a treasure pagoda (stupa) in his left hand. The inner faces, the details of the sculpture and the pedestal are finely highlighted in gold, black and red lacquers...