

Writing set consisting of a black and gold lacquer-work box and lid, insert tray with ink pad and silver water container holder shaped like a plum flower, water container, and two hair brushes with black and gold lacquered handles and sliding protectors. The box and brushes have a design of plum flowers with a karakusa (Chinese plant scrolls) design, also young pine trees, with mon (crest) in the form of a three-petal oxalis flower (katabami) in a circle. The inside of the box is decorated with nashiji, 'pear-skin' ground made by sprinkling gold powder. The underside of the lid has a plum tree in gold set against the 'pear-skin' ground.
The pine is an auspicious symbol of spring and New Year. The whole set would have been part of a trousseau for a daimyo's daughter.