Writing Box ‘The Chinese Scholar’s Garden’, Tsuda Sokan, 1920 - 1930
At the table, two Chinese scholars are engaged in a discussion. Two servants bring them food and drink. At the back of the garden, an old scholar is writing a poem on a banana leaf. This poem is calligraphed on the inside of the lid in lacquer. It compares the unfurling of the young leaves of the tree with the reviving of the mind and the cultivation of new virtues.