Antique & Decorative Arts 2 Days - 30 & 31 March Wednesday, 30 March 2022 - 10:00 AM start
Fine Japanese Edo Period Lacquer Kazaridana (Display Cabinet)
Lot Details
Featuring fine metal work and gold Hiramaki-e lacquer decoration The cabinet bears gilt mounts on the four shelves and bracket feet and contains a Kodogu-Bako box enclosed by a pair of hinged doors. The doors decorated with two birds beneath a flowering tree. Kodogu-Bako boxes were used for containing utensils for the traditional Japanese incense game, in which participants attempt to guess which scent is being burned. The top of the display cabinet with two flying cranes rendered in copper in low relief. The three lower shelves decorated similarly in low relief with birds and a flying bat. Raised on splayed legs with gilt mounts. Circa 1860. The fine Japanese art of lacquering was developed over hundreds of years. Made from the sap of the rhus vernicifera (Japanese lacquer tree). Lacquer is poisonous until it dries and was handled only by master craftsmen. Their techniques were passed on and perfected over centuries producing exquisitely detailed designs for boxes, furniture, inro and more. The greatest advances in technique were cultivated during 250 years of peace following the Azuchi-Momoyama period. Throughout this time, Japanese society changed dramatically, the arts flourished and by the end of the Edo period (1603-1868), lacquerware techniques had been fully developed with master lacquerers producing extremely high-quality, expensive works for the aristocracy, such as this cabinet, for both domestic use and for export. 78cm height, 77cm width Provenance: Purchased from John Mains ( Portobello Antiques ) in the early 1980s Marion and Rex Jennings Collection
