A staggering amount of technical skill has been expended on this huge Meiji period lacquered sake cup dripping with gold over crimson red lacquer with mother of pearl inlay enclosed in a red lacquered wooden box.This is truly an amazing bit of Maki-e. The entire simply glimmers with mother of pearl, nashiji and kiri-gane applied gold over maki-e designs emenatng in a swirling fan from two mirror image cranes meeting in the central dial.The underside is covered in red with a staunch ancient pine spreading its branches across the bottom.It is 21 cm (over 8 inches) diameter, 7.5cm (3 inches) tall and in perfect condition.
