Three-Tiered Lunch Box (Bento-bako)
maker
Unknown
Datelate 19th century - early 20th century
Place MadeJapan, East Asia
MediumLacquered cedar
ClassificationsBoxes
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberCR34n29.a-e
eMuseum ID728001
Previous NumberCR34n29
Previous NumberC131-6a
EmbARK ObjectID15699
Previous NumberCR34n29.a-d
TMS Source ID4239
Last Updated8/14/24
Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryOkakura Kakuzō (1862-1913) gave this lunch box to his friend Denman Waldo Ross (1853-1935) in 1908 when they were traveling together in Japan. Ross knew that Okakura and Isabella Stewart Gardner were close friends and so, after Okakura’s death, Ross gave the lunch box to Gardner in 1916.
BibliographyNotesWilliam Thrasher and Caroline Graboys. "The Beginnings of Chanoyu in America." Chanoyu Quarterly (1984), pp. 32-33. (as Japanese)
Alan Chong and Noriko Murai. Journeys East: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Asia. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2009), pp. 35-36, 393, 410-11, 415, 418, fig. 2. (as Japanese, as dated late 19th century or early 20th century)
Alan Chong and Noriko Murai. Journeys East: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Asia. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2009), pp. 35-36, 393, 410-11, 415, 418, fig. 2. (as Japanese, as dated late 19th century or early 20th century)
ProvenanceNotesGift from Okakura Kakuzo (1862-1913), Japanese art historian and philosopher, to Denman Waldo Ross (1853-1935), art collector and design theorist, 1908.
Gift from Denman Ross to Isabella Stewart Gardner, 27 August 1916.
Gift from Denman Ross to Isabella Stewart Gardner, 27 August 1916.
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