The three women depicted on the lid of this lacquer box are called Oharame. They sell country products such as firewood and flowers, seen here carried on their heads as they travel from the suburbs of Kyoto to the city proper. Oharame were depicted in paintings from the end of the eighteenth century onward, probably because of city dwellers' interest in fresh products from the countryside as well as in the refreshing look of country girls. Judging from the lacquer style, the shallow box shape, and the sharp edges of the four corners of the box, this writing set was made in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. The silver applied to the faces and hands of the women has oxidized and now appears darker than was originally intended.