The Platinum PTB-300000A Mizubashou is one of the most accomplished urushi pieces ever produced under the Platinum name, and one of the most difficult to find.

The decoration uses rankaku maki-e, a discipline in which individual eggshell fragments are placed by hand onto fresh urushi, sealed under additional lacquer layers, then polished flush with the surface. No two examples can be identically reproduced: the placement of each fragment is unique, making every pen a singular object by the nature of the process itself.

The motif is the mizubashou (水芭蕉, Lysichiton camtschatcensis), the white skunk cabbage that rises from snowmelt waters in the Japanese mountain wetlands. The eggshell fragments, selected for their white and off-white tones, recreate this purity with a material coherence that no pigment could achieve: the white of the shell is the white of the flower.

The work was executed by the Shinonome atelier in Aizu, Fukushima Prefecture, one of the historic centres of Japanese urushi with a continuous tradition since the Edo period.

The pen has been discontinued and is absent from every active retailer and distributor.

The pen is in good condition but I don't have the original box.