Her Irises, in Gold
A maki-e fountain pen for a longtime client
The ask
Our firm has handled one family's legal work since 2004. The head of the family signs every document with the steel-nibbed pen she has used since college. She is left-handed and a serious iris grower. We would like to thank her with a pen made only for her. Around $20k.
The gift
A fountain pen from a Tokyo workshop, its ebonite body turned by hand and coated in urushi lacquer. Working from photographs of her garden, a maki-e artist paints her irises around cap and barrel in raised gold lacquer, with mother-of-pearl set into the petals. The 14-karat gold nib is tuned for a left-handed writer. It arrives in the linen box with a wax-sealed card.
Why it's extraordinary
Irises in gold lacquer and mother-of-pearl have decorated Japanese writing boxes for three centuries. These are drawn from the beds she planted, and the nib is set for the hand she signs with, so the pen is hers alone.
The moment
The old steel pen goes into a drawer. Her next signature comes from a pen painted with the irises she grows.
A curator replies within one business day.
