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Lip colour box and bag, Itabeni

JAPANESE
Lip colour box and bag, Itabeni
 (mid 19th century)

Medium
metal, silk, metallic thread, cotton

Measurements
6.4 × 4.3 × 0.7 cm (box) 7.7 × 5.3 × 1.3 cm (bag)

Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Noriaki Kaneko, 2025

Gallery location
Not on display

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About this work

Before the invention of lip colour in lipstick format at the end of the nineteenth century, and the subsequent introduction of lipstick to Japan in the early twentieth century, women applied coloured oil paste to their lips using a small brush or spatula-like spoon. Decorative reusable small lip colour boxes, itabeni, were prized personal possessions that could be taken by their owners to lip-oil shops to be filled with colours on request. This box features a zigzagging design of coloured panels with engraved flowers and has an accompanying silk brocade bag.

Artwork Details

Place/s of Execution
Japan

Accession Number
2025.698

Department
Asian Art

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