Large hand-drum core with tigers and pines, late 16th century, Unknown Japanese, 11 × 4 1/2 × 4 7/16 in. (27.94 × 11.43 × 11.27 cm), Black lacquer with gold maki-e and pictorial pearskin ground (e-nashiji), Japan, 16th century, These ornately decorated lacquer objects are the cores of handheld drums used in performances of Noh theater and Kabuki. To these cores would have been affixed a drumhead of animal hide.