At the end of the 19th century, there was a growing passion for Japanese art, especially in England. This was the Meiji era in Japan (1868 – 1912) and Japanese artwork export drastically increased during this period.
Whist markers were not the exception. They are called Shibayama Whist Marker from the name of the technic used. Shibayama lacquer has been invented in Chiba just before the Meiji era by Senzo Onogi (who later changed his name to Senzo Shibayama) : small elaborated pieces of noble materials (semi-precious stones, mother-of-pearl, ivory, tortoiseshell) are inlaid into lacquered wooden or even metal or ivory bases.
According to Yumiko who did an impressive study about Japanese Export Furniture all the motifs on the Whist Markers are symbols indicating autumn season : plants such as bellflower, pauwlonia and insects which chirp during this period (crickets, grasshoppers...). They are used as season words in Japanese poetry, called " haiku ". Autumn is a Japanese favorite season and has always been a popular topic depicted on works of art. The exception is a butterfly which symbolizes spring, probably included there simply because it’s pretty and decorative (but which Westerners could have known about that in 1900 ?).
It has to be noticed that Shibayama items were only produced for export as they were considered as excessively ornemental by most Japanese. With the success of Shibayama items, a lot of imitations appeared which can explain the difference of quality sometimes found between pieces.
