Inrō with Cockatoo and Magnolia

Inrō with Cockatoo and Magnolia

Yamada Jōkasai

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Inrō are small containers with multiple chambers for holding medicinal herbs, seals, and other small items. They are worn suspended from a sash by means of small toggles that are known as netsuke. Use of inrō, which developed in lieu of pockets in traditional Japanese clothing, flourished from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. The signature on the bottom of this example reads "Jōkasai," a reference to any one of a number of artists in the Yamada family, active after the late seventeenth century, who used that name.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Inrō with Cockatoo and MagnoliaInrō with Cockatoo and MagnoliaInrō with Cockatoo and MagnoliaInrō with Cockatoo and MagnoliaInrō with Cockatoo and Magnolia

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.