Gift cover (fukusa) with design of scholar's objects

WHAT’S THE STORY?
Chinese-style scholar’s objects like the ones shown on this fukusa expressed the sophisticated taste of many Japanese intellectuals and statesmen active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The centerpiece of this still-life is a hanging scroll inscribed with a Chinese couplet that likens one’s residence to a place where an immortal might dwell:

On the courtyard terrace, jade trees grow;
under the roof eaves, the sacred fungi show
—Translation by Zhang Fan

TAKE A CLOSER LOOK
Executed in the yuzen technique, the design was created by applying paste-resist to reserve areas, which were then meticulously dyed or painted by hand. Embroidered details like the lingzhi fungus, brush, scroll mounting, and minute dots of lichen on the scholar’s rock add notes of realism.