manupropria
Member
This morning I found a pen that I made some years ago, it was hidden in the back of a drawer. The pen was made from Ebonite and lacquered with jet-black "Shôen" lacquer. The cap with "Ishime-ji" stone surface lacquer, decorated with a plaque showing the portrait of a "Nihonzaru" macque monkey.
The plaque was made in "Yamimaki-e" black on black lacquer, "Takamaki-e" high relief Urushi lacquer.
Monkeys are a historically prominent feature in the religion, folklore, and art of Japan, as well as in Japanese proverbs and idiomatic expressions. The Japanese cultural meaning of the monkey has diachronically changed. Beginning with 8th-century historical records, monkeys were sacred mediators between gods and humans; around the 13th century, monkeys also became a "scapegoat" metaphor for a trickster.
Best,
Martin
The plaque was made in "Yamimaki-e" black on black lacquer, "Takamaki-e" high relief Urushi lacquer.
Monkeys are a historically prominent feature in the religion, folklore, and art of Japan, as well as in Japanese proverbs and idiomatic expressions. The Japanese cultural meaning of the monkey has diachronically changed. Beginning with 8th-century historical records, monkeys were sacred mediators between gods and humans; around the 13th century, monkeys also became a "scapegoat" metaphor for a trickster.
Best,
Martin
