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Lot Essay
Europeans began to arrive in Japan from the late 16th century for trade and Christian missions. To furnish the Christian churches in Japan and also for export, Japanese lacquer workers produced a variety of decorative lacquer chests, coffers, boxes and other furniture, as well as ceremonial religious objects. They were largely in European form but decorated using Japanese techniques and designs, sometimes combined with Western patterns.
Nanban lacquerwares were decorated in gold hiramaki-e and shell inlay as in this present lot. Their design is related to Kodaiji lacquer, a type of lacquerware made in Kyoto during the late Momoyama and early Edo periods, which is characterised by expansive and expressive designs in gold hiramaki-e on a roironuri, or black ground, and the favoured subject was flowers and plants. Western missionaries and merchants had opportunities to see Kodaiji lacquerwares and ordered the workshops to make the objects for them using the same design and techniques in freely painted hiramaki-e. Nanban pieces, however, generally employ dazzling shell inlay, which is never found in Kodaiji works and disappears after the Momoyama period. Their decorations are also denser than those of Kodaiji pieces and often combined with some Western patterns such as nanban tendril and geometric borders.
For more information on the Nanban lacquerware, see James C.Y. Watt and Barbara B. Ford, East Asian Lacquer: The Florence and Herbert Irving Collection, (New York, 1991), p. 169-173; and for the Nanban chests and coffers, see Oliver Impey and Christiaan J. A. Jörg, Japanese Export Lacquer 1580 – 1850, (Amsterdam, 2005), p. 147-158.
For more information on lacquer caskets commissioned by Europeans, go to the British Museum website:
https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/asia/t/travelling_chest_kamaboko-bak.aspx
For similar examples, see:
Sakai City Museum ed., Namban shikki - shitsugei ni miru tozai koryu [Namban lacquer wares - lacquer art and the exchanges between East and West] (Osaka, 1983), p. 37, 39
Edith Strasser and Mark Hinton, Ex Oriente Lux - European and Oriental Lacquer from the BASF Lacquer Museum Cologne (London, 1977), p. 72, no. 142
Sezon Museum of Art and Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, eds., ‘Porutogaru to Nanban bunka’ ten: mezase toho no kuniguni [‘Portugal and Namban culture’ exhibition : Via Orientals] (Japan, 1993), p. 194-195, no. 168 (the Confraria de Nossa Senhora da Luz collection, Arraiolos)
Fundação Oriente, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Arte Namban: os portugueses no Japão (Lisboa, 1990), p. 55, 100, no. 53
For a larger example in the Kyoto National Museum, go to the Cultural Heritage Online (Japanese):
https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/SearchDetail.do?heritageId=97569#
For another larger example in the Suntory Museum of Art collection in Tokyo, see
Kyoto National Museum ed., japan makie – kyuden wo kazaru toyo no kirameki – [Export Lacquer: Reflection of the West in Black and Gold Makie] (Osaka, 2008), p. 95, no. 50
Similar examples sold in “Japanese Art at the English Court”, online auction, Christie’s, 8-19 December 2014, lots 1, 3, 4 and 5, and in “European Courts Encounter Japan”, London King Street, 11 May 2015, lot 1.
Nanban lacquerwares were decorated in gold hiramaki-e and shell inlay as in this present lot. Their design is related to Kodaiji lacquer, a type of lacquerware made in Kyoto during the late Momoyama and early Edo periods, which is characterised by expansive and expressive designs in gold hiramaki-e on a roironuri, or black ground, and the favoured subject was flowers and plants. Western missionaries and merchants had opportunities to see Kodaiji lacquerwares and ordered the workshops to make the objects for them using the same design and techniques in freely painted hiramaki-e. Nanban pieces, however, generally employ dazzling shell inlay, which is never found in Kodaiji works and disappears after the Momoyama period. Their decorations are also denser than those of Kodaiji pieces and often combined with some Western patterns such as nanban tendril and geometric borders.
For more information on the Nanban lacquerware, see James C.Y. Watt and Barbara B. Ford, East Asian Lacquer: The Florence and Herbert Irving Collection, (New York, 1991), p. 169-173; and for the Nanban chests and coffers, see Oliver Impey and Christiaan J. A. Jörg, Japanese Export Lacquer 1580 – 1850, (Amsterdam, 2005), p. 147-158.
For more information on lacquer caskets commissioned by Europeans, go to the British Museum website:
https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/asia/t/travelling_chest_kamaboko-bak.aspx
For similar examples, see:
Sakai City Museum ed., Namban shikki - shitsugei ni miru tozai koryu [Namban lacquer wares - lacquer art and the exchanges between East and West] (Osaka, 1983), p. 37, 39
Edith Strasser and Mark Hinton, Ex Oriente Lux - European and Oriental Lacquer from the BASF Lacquer Museum Cologne (London, 1977), p. 72, no. 142
Sezon Museum of Art and Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, eds., ‘Porutogaru to Nanban bunka’ ten: mezase toho no kuniguni [‘Portugal and Namban culture’ exhibition : Via Orientals] (Japan, 1993), p. 194-195, no. 168 (the Confraria de Nossa Senhora da Luz collection, Arraiolos)
Fundação Oriente, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Arte Namban: os portugueses no Japão (Lisboa, 1990), p. 55, 100, no. 53
For a larger example in the Kyoto National Museum, go to the Cultural Heritage Online (Japanese):
https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/SearchDetail.do?heritageId=97569#
For another larger example in the Suntory Museum of Art collection in Tokyo, see
Kyoto National Museum ed., japan makie – kyuden wo kazaru toyo no kirameki – [Export Lacquer: Reflection of the West in Black and Gold Makie] (Osaka, 2008), p. 95, no. 50
Similar examples sold in “Japanese Art at the English Court”, online auction, Christie’s, 8-19 December 2014, lots 1, 3, 4 and 5, and in “European Courts Encounter Japan”, London King Street, 11 May 2015, lot 1.