This stunning Japanese lacquer card case is from the Charles Goddard Weld Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston, USA.

The obverse of the case depicts Benzatein (or Benten), one of the Seven Gods of Good Fortune. The case has a gold kinji lacquer ground and is decorated in gold, silver, black and red takamaki-e with an encrustation of stained ivory. The reverse depicts a hanging basket of flowers. It is inscribed 無銘, and dates from 1890.

In Japanese mythology Benzatein is one of the Seven Gods of Good Luck; she is the patron goddess of literature and music, wealth, and femininity. Generally associated with the sea, she is frequently depicted riding on, or accompanied by, a sea dragon and playing the biwa, a kind of lute as in this depiction.

The case was a bequest by Goddard to the Museum on 7 December 1911. To find out more about Charles Goddard Weld,  click here.

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