The circular cover decorated with two overlapping peacock feathers in takamaki-e, the eyespots inlaid with mother-of-pearl raden. Inside the box and cover, hiramaki-e butterflies and flowers on a background of nashiji lacquer. 

The beauty of Japanese lacquers makes them appreciate not only in their country but also in the West. The Europeans discover them at the end of the 16th century through the first missionaries and Portuguese merchants. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, Japanese lacquers were to be the subject of a profitable trade. The amateurs of the 18th century Europe loved it, praising the extreme delicacy, refinement and preciousness of these productions. The great aristocrats assiduously collected Japanese lacquerware, like Madame de Pompadour or Queen Marie Antoinette.