Overall: 8.5cm (3.4in) x 7cm (2.7in) x 1.2cm (0.5in)
Silver, gilt and gold. The rectangular convex hinged lid applied with the thirty-two petalled Imperial Japanese Chrysanthemum crest, kiku-mon, in gold. Unmarked.
The present box was possibly made in connection with Crown Prince Hirohito’s royal tour of May 1921. In the wake of the First World War it was decided by the Imperial Household to shore up the Anglo-Japanese alliance with a visit to Britain and wartime allies France, Belgium, Italy and the United States. Uncertainty around the European itinerary continued for several months and in the event the US leg was cancelled over concerns that the Japanese occupation a former German colony in the South Pacific might fan American anti-Japanese protests.
The Imperial Household demonstrated its Anglophile outlook by assigning the British built warships Katori and Kashima over Japanese vessels for the Prince’s voyage to the West. The ports of call, except for Okinawa, being Hong Kong, Singapore, Colombo, Suez, Malta and Gibraltar, were British territories, demonstrated Japan’s effort to foster good relationship between the two nations. On 9 May, Prince Hirohito arrived in Portsmouth, where he was received by the Prince of Wales who then escorted the party to London by rail. King George V welcomed the entourage at Victoria station to mark the beginning of the Prince’s visit to Britain over some 20 days before departing to France from Portsmouth.