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Lot Essay
The Elegance of Negoro
Negoro-nuri originally referred only to lacquerware produced at the Negoro temple, and this use of the word Negoro as a term of approbation demonstrates just how highly lacquerwares made during the temple’s heyday were esteemed for their combination of utility and beauty. Put at its simplest, the chief characteristics of Negoro is the ability to withstand frequent use, the beauty of form and the manner in which this beauty is enhanced by the combination of an undercoat of black lacquer and a final coat of red lacquer.
The objects generally described as Negoro are of many different types, but all of them were designed for actual day-to-day use. Negoro lacquer was never produced solely for aesthetic admiration and is never adorned with excessive decoration that would compromise its functionality. Rather, it is characterised by simplicity and clarity. Red and black lacquer creates an ever-changing beauty that can only be brought out through use and is transfigured by the passage of time. Features such as wear, cracks, damage, splits, traces of the brush used for lacquering, and even flaws in both wood and textile covering due to shrinkage caused by dryness can all help to enhance the ineffable, harmonious beauty of the surface of Negoro lacquer. It is precisely because of this sense of a mature beauty enhanced by the passing of the centuries that Negoro lacquer is so appreciated by tea masters and admired by people of refined taste.
For further examples of footed basins, see:
Miho Museum and Kawada Sadamu ed., Shuurushi Negoro Chusei ni saita hana [Negoro: Efflorescence of Medieval Japanese Lacquerware], (Tokyo, 2013), p. 216-226, 228-229 Kawada Sadamu,
Negoro Lacquer, (Kyoto, 1985), p. 134-149 Hosomi Kokoan,
Negoro no bi [Beauty of Nogoro], (Osaka, 1966), p. 37, 41, 44
Negoro-nuri originally referred only to lacquerware produced at the Negoro temple, and this use of the word Negoro as a term of approbation demonstrates just how highly lacquerwares made during the temple’s heyday were esteemed for their combination of utility and beauty. Put at its simplest, the chief characteristics of Negoro is the ability to withstand frequent use, the beauty of form and the manner in which this beauty is enhanced by the combination of an undercoat of black lacquer and a final coat of red lacquer.
The objects generally described as Negoro are of many different types, but all of them were designed for actual day-to-day use. Negoro lacquer was never produced solely for aesthetic admiration and is never adorned with excessive decoration that would compromise its functionality. Rather, it is characterised by simplicity and clarity. Red and black lacquer creates an ever-changing beauty that can only be brought out through use and is transfigured by the passage of time. Features such as wear, cracks, damage, splits, traces of the brush used for lacquering, and even flaws in both wood and textile covering due to shrinkage caused by dryness can all help to enhance the ineffable, harmonious beauty of the surface of Negoro lacquer. It is precisely because of this sense of a mature beauty enhanced by the passing of the centuries that Negoro lacquer is so appreciated by tea masters and admired by people of refined taste.
For further examples of footed basins, see:
Miho Museum and Kawada Sadamu ed., Shuurushi Negoro Chusei ni saita hana [Negoro: Efflorescence of Medieval Japanese Lacquerware], (Tokyo, 2013), p. 216-226, 228-229 Kawada Sadamu,
Negoro Lacquer, (Kyoto, 1985), p. 134-149 Hosomi Kokoan,
Negoro no bi [Beauty of Nogoro], (Osaka, 1966), p. 37, 41, 44