Edo Furniture

Japanese Tansu Storage Chest (Edo Period - 19th Century). Tansu are traditional portable wooden storage chests from Japan. In Japanese traditional houses...

This is an old Japanese drawer. It was made during the Edo period. The outside of the wooden crate is lined with bamboo weave. Bamboo is attached to the corners for reinforcement. Th...

This is an exhibition stand used in temples around Oita Prefecture, Japan. Basically, it is a stand for placing incense burners and offerings in front of the Buddha statue. The name ...

This is a very old and rare Japanese tooling storage tansu. It was made early Edo period of Japanese cedar and its handle was made of iron. Its ultimate...

This is a beautifully worn late Edo period small chest of drawers for sewing. Made of Cedar with iron handle and hinge. The whole look is rustic, blackened and simple, with refined d...

Japanese Kuruma-dansu, a wheeled storage chest traditionally kept in the Kura (storeroom) for the specific purpose of containing valuables, thus the wheeled carriage for a quick exit...

A highly important Japanese export lacquer cabinet with depiction of the Dutch East India Company tradepost Deshima and the annual Dutch delegation on its way to the Shogun in Edo Edo period, circa 1660-1680 H. 88 x W. 100.5 x D. 54 cm This cabinet includes a later European japanned stand, but also a modern powder-coated steel frame. The latter can be designed and added to your specific needs. The sides and front of the rectangular two-door cabinet are embellished in gold and silver hiramaki-e and takamaki-e on a black roiro lacquer ground with a continuous design. The two doors depict a long procession of numerous figures travelling on foot and horseback along buildings and a pagoda into a mountainous landscape. This is the annual court journey, Hofreis, of the Dutch from Nagasaki to the Shogun’s court in Edo. Three horseback riders are dressed as Dutch merchants and a fourth figure, probably het Opperhoofd, is seen inside a palanquin, norimon. Just about to cross the bridge, two men are carrying a cabinet like the present one. Many Japanese figures on either side of the procession are engaged in various activities; some play musical instruments on board of small boats, others are fishing; figures inside buildings are depicted playing go, and farmers are tending to their rice paddocks. The upper part of the right door shows a large mansion, probably the local daimyo’s castle, with men kneeling before a man in the central courtyard. The court journey fits in with the foreign policy of the shogunate which accorded a role to the VOC alongside China, Korea, and the Ryukyu Islands who also had to pay tribute. However, the VOC employees were traders, having low status in Japan’s social hierarchy, and they were received with less deference than were the state embassies from Korea and the Ryukyu Islands. Nevertheless, the contacts with the Dutch were a welcome source of information to the Shogun about Europe and European science and technology. The left side of the cabinet depicts, in mirror image, a rare view of the artificial fan-shaped Deshima Island, the trading post for the Dutch in Japan. The island, where the Dutch flag flies, is surrounded by small Japanese boats and an anchored three-masted fluyt (cargo ship), flying Dutch flags, with on the stern the VOC monogram. On the bottom right a busy street of Nagasaki is shown, bordered by shops and leading up to the stone bridge. On the island the trees are beautifully painted, two cows can be seen, and the flagpole, all in very fine detail. Dutchmen and enslaved Malay are visible outside the buildings and two Japanese figures, probably guards, sit in a small hut in the centre. A maximum of fifteen to twenty Dutchmen lived on the island at any time and soldiers or women were not allowed. Restrictions on Deshima were tight, and the merchants were only allowed to leave the island by special permission. The Opperhoofd had to be replaced every year, and each new Opperhoofd had to make a court journey to pay tribute, present gifts, and to obtain permission to Margaret Barclay eep on trading. In the distance, many birds fly above the hills and a four-story pagoda can be seen. The right side of the cabinet is painted with other horse riders and their retinue journeying through mountains. The pair of doors to the front open to reveal ten rectangular drawers. The drawers are decorated with scenes of birds in flight and landscapes with trees and plants. The reverse of the left door with two thatched buildings, one with a ladder, underneath a camelia tree with large blooms; the right door with a three-story pagoda nestled among trees and both doors with a flying phoenix, ho-oo bird. The cabinet, with elaborately engraved gilt copper mounts, hinges, lock plates and brass handles, is raised on an 18th-century English japanned wood stand. A pair of large cabinets...

Late Edo period (1614-1868) antique Japanese presentation table in dark brown lacquer with dark red details.

An intricately decorated Korean Chest with fine wood graining and fine presentation. Each door with an inscribed panel in calligraphy. With two-part recessed side panels and raised o...

A decorative and colorful compatible pair of Japanese Calligraphy Stands in gilt and lacquer decoration. The red lift tops with elaborate lacquered and gilt decoration of birds and s...

One of a kind Japanese tea table. The table is 43" long, 30" wide and 12.5" high. It was made out of life-edge teak most likely between 1930-1940. The table features a colorful scene...

We have an aesthetic sense peculiar to Japanese people. And we introduce the unique items that only we can do, the route of purchasing in Japan, the experience value so far, and the way that no one can imitate. Japanese antique black chest "staircase chest...

19th c. Kuruma tansu - cabinet on wheels. These were used to store belongings and the wheels made them easy to move outside during house fires, which were...

This is an upper part of a an unusual 19th century Japanese cabinet using bamboo and burled wood as design accents on the two sliding do...

In ancient Japan fires are a constant occurrence and the Japanese built their furniture and houses with this in mind. Firemen were essential and revered, and their equipment was care...

Incredible example of Asian lacquer carving. Standing over seven feet tall, this monumental display shelf was produced in Japan at the end of the Ed...

A rare Japanese export lacquered secretaire for the American market Circa 1800-1830, Colonial Overall densely decorated with flower sprays and landscapes, minutely inlaid with ...

Japanese silk thread wood winder complete with spool and functioning gears. The spool still has the silk thread and an extra spool with different color thread comes with it. The thre...