Of late years the collecting of the lacquers of Japan has engaged many of the most enthusiastic and discriminating connoisseurs, and there are many public as well as private collections of lacquer objects in America. Probably the favorite objects in Japanese lacquer are those interesting and beautiful little inrō or compartment box, indispensable to every Japanese gentleman’s attire in earlier days, and to which was attached by a silken cord the netsuke, or button, by means of which it was suspended from the obi, or sash. These lacquered inrō have not been surpassed for their beauty and are of literary interest. Of the varieties of Japanese lacquer one may make mention of the _nashiji_, generally known to Western collectors as “avanturine,” so named by Europeans from its resemblance to avanturine Venetian glass. When _kirikané_ (torn gold leaf) is employed the lacquer is called _Giobunashiji_. The _togidashi_ lacquer is that in which the pattern is produced by grinding and polishing, revealing the gold ground. _Hiramaki-ye_ is the Japanese term used for all those lacquers which have design not raised above the surface more than the thickness of the lines that trace it. Then there is to be found a combination of the flat-gold lacquer with the relief-gold lacquer. The red Japanese lacquer is known by the native name of _tsuishu_, and the black lacquer is called _tsuikoku_; those in which the design is carved out of the lacquer-formed or superimposed layers which are exposed by the incisions of the graver are called _guri_. The _chinkinbori_ lacquer, in imitation of the Chinese lacquer, is a sort of patterned lacquer, the design of which is produced with a rat-tooth graver and the incision filled up with gold. Honnami Kōyetsu (1556-1637) is one of the earliest Japanese lacquerers of importance whose work has come down to us. Koma Kiuhaka, who died in 1715, was another lacquerer of great distinction, the founder, in fact, of a “school.” Bunsai, Kōrin, Yastuda, and Yasunari were brilliant followers. Kōrin (1661-1716) was the most famous lacquerer Japan has ever produced. It was he who first extensively used mother-of-pearl and pewter ornament in Japanese lacquer in combination with the decoration. Collectors will find few signatures on pieces of lacquer; the work itself must be the guide. [Illustration: _Courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art_ Chinese Red Cinnabar Lacquer Vase, 18th Century] [Illustration: Japanese Gold Lacquer Toilet Stand, 17th Century] [Illustration: _Courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art_ Chinese Snuff-Bottles of the Ch’ien Lung Period, 1736-1796] CHAPTER XXXI CHINESE SNUFF-BOTTLES