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Terms and conditions of use
Lip colour box and case, Itabeni
(mid 19th century)
Medium
metal, cotton (woodblock printed, sarasa)
Measurements
5.1 × 3.3 × 1.0 cm (box) 5.2 × 3.6 × 0.8 cm (case) 4.0 × 0.6 × 0.3 cm (spoon)
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Noriaki Kaneko, 2025
Gallery location
Not on display
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 an engraved design of flowers and has a fabric satchel with block printing known as sarasa.