Wall plaques are popular. They have a matt lacquer background, on which is a relief of shells, bone, stones, mother of pearl, and other objects (a technique called Shibayama) creating a picture of birds in trees and other natural surroundings. Shibayama ware is a style invented by Shibayama Senzo in the 1770s, characterized by the inlay of various materials such as shellfish, gold, silver, ivory, coral, tortoise shell, and ceramics.These plaques come in various shapes and uniformly have a lacquered brown wooden frame, even round ones. They are another example of bringing natural references indoors.
