This is a particularly fine Shibayama card case. The simple yet striking design is beautifully executed using a variety of hard stones skilfully selected to suggest the tones and textures of the creatures they depict.
The obverse shows a frog, moth, spider, butterfly and dragonfly, whilst the reverse shows four various sparrows and a bird of paradise in flight.
The family name Shibayama has become the generic term for a style of decorative inlays
of mother-
