Big in Japan

While we have explored the hypothesis that a Dutchman and a Portuguese man were depicted on the inrō because of their relations to medicine, we can also interpret their presence on our object, and on many others, in a different way. In fact, while the inrō were used to contain medicines, we should not forget that they were also objects of fashion: they were beautifully decorated, their style was subject to trends and we can imagine that they were made and worn with pride.

Since the arrival of the Portuguese, Portuguese objects held a special interest in the eyes of the Japanese people: Portuguese clothes were en vogue and sought after. Warriors not only appreciated Western arms and armors, but also hats, hoods and raincoats. Entertainers such as kabuki actors and acrobats were sometimes seen wearing western clothes and items such as Christian rosaries. And of course, as we saw earlier, Dutch traders were a constant presence on accessories such as inrō and netsuke, as well as Dutch ships being depicted on sword guards, tsuba.

At the time that our inrō was made, the feudal government, the shogunate, issued sumptuary laws that regulated the dress of each of the social classes of Japanese society: warriors, farmers and peasants, artesans, and merchants. The sumptuary laws set the materials and color that could be used for kimonos of each class, limiting how luxurious or eye-catching they could be. So inrō became one of the few ways for wearers to express themselves through clothing: this is why in the Edo Period (1603-1868) these small objects featured such beautiful and elaborate decoration.

It was in this context that our inrō was made, and it is this context that it materializes a world of cross-cultural fascinations and contaminations, where the “new” is coming from Europe. But it is limited in its accessibility and is therefore imagined and perceived as exotic by the population. A world where city residents are eager to express themselves and their culture through fashion, and create and follow trends in any way they can. We can only imagine the curiosity, the surprise and the awe that this inrō would have raised in the people who peeked at the object on the wearer’s side.