FROM CARD: "PRESENTED BY TYCOON [OF JAPAN] TO HON. LEWIS CASS. THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE CENTRAL WOODEN PART AND STIRRUPS, WHICH IS ALL THAT THERE IS TO THIS NO. IS ESSENTIALLY THE SAME AS CAT. NO. 14,190, OF LACQUERED WOOD IN GOLD SPECKLED RUSSET COLOR."
Note: The records indicate that this object was presented to Lewis Cass (Secretary of State under President James Buchanan) by the "Tycoon" of Japan, through the members of the First Japanese Mission to the U.S. in 1860. The catalogue card interprets this to mean the Emperor of Japan. However, in the Edo Period of Japan, the word Taikun was used as a diplomatic title designating the Shogun of Japan in relations with foreign countries, as an attempt to convey that the shogun was more important than the Japanese Emperor. A modified version of this word appears in English as "tycoon".
