Well, David, if minogame are growing on you here is my piece with a total of 25 mossy-tailed turtles in lacquer. You only see the underside of a couple on this piece. It was my understanding that if they lived to an age of 1000 years and were somewhat slow moving creatures (not from my snorkling experience however), then the moss will grow and flow off their backs. Regardless, it's a nice subject when portrayed in netsuke.

Old Kappa, here's the other side with more old turtles. A question for our lacquer experts: when you look at the magnified picutes you can see that where there is some rubbing on the lacquer there seems to be red pigment underneath. Minimally perceptible but is this something that was done under gold lacquer for some reason or is it my imagination?

Thanks, fk. Perhaps you could show us some lacquer pieces from your collection (I assume you have some since you sound knowlegable) to display various techniques. Even (or especially?) worn pieces that demonstrate the various underlayers would be nice to see if you describe them for us. Do particular inlays or different methods of building up takamaki-e, etc. help with age determination at all?

Thanks, fk. It's a neat family heirloom. I would have guessed you must have a lacquer collection based on your knowlege. Thanks for sharing. Perhaps others can show us some examples.