EDO PERIOD (17TH-18TH CENTURY)

The squirrel and grapevine motif is often found on Ryukyuan lacquer of the seventeenth century. The techniques of mother-of-pearl inlay on a lacquer ground and "goldfoil" painting (hakue) were transmitted from China to the Ryukyu Islands, where they were combined in a novel fashion. The gold foil is affixed over designs drawn in clear lacquer. Fine lines are made by scratching through the gold leaf. Antje Papist-Matsuo has suggested that the imagery of grapes (budo) and squirrels (risu) may mirror samurai warrior ideals--a visualization of the popular saying "budo o rissuru" (to master the martial arts).
Box lids with recessed sides, as here, are peculiar to Ryukyuan lacquerware of the Edo period. The inspiration probably comes from Japanese boxes, but the latter would have metal rings on the sides of the box bottom.
For a seventeenth-century stationery box of similar technique, see Antje Papist-Matsuo, A Japanese Taste for Lacquer: The Klaus F. Naumann Collection (Berlin: Musuem für Ostasiatische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 2006), pl. 48.