Japanese Antique Store

A refined medium-sized six-panel byôbu (folding screen) showcasing a classical autumn court scene from chapter 7 of The Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari), titled Momiji no Ga (The Aut...

An exquisite, tall six-panel byôbu (folding screen) featuring a painting attributed to Kanô Isen’in Naganobu (1775–1828) depicting a pair of phoenixes (hô’ô) and a section of a large...

A superb, tall six-panel byôbu (folding screen) featuring a painting attributed to Kanô Isen’in Naganobu (1775–1828) depicting a family of phoenixes (hô’ô) gathered beneath the shelt...

A rare, high quality lacquered portable jû'bako (tiered food container/stacked picnic box) fitted with a removable vertical safety bar - housing a nice secret – decorated with a refi...

Superb rectangular ‘Rinpa School’-style black lacquer suzuri’bako (writing box) with a slightly arched well-fitted overhanging cover with rounded corners. The lid with a design of a gosho’guruma (ox-drawn carriage for Heian-era nobles) featuring golden hiramaki-e (low-relief lacquer design) and takamaki-e (high-relief lacquer design), inlays of lead and shiny mother-of-pearl (raden). The design continues along the sides. The reverse of the lid decorated with two large curving pine trees (matsu) executed in the same way, but also with intricate dots of tiny pieces of inlaid blue mother-of-pearl along the golden trunk. The interior shaped to hold various scholar’s accessories, including a partially gold lacquered inkstone (suzuri) and a bronze waterdropper (suiteki) shaped like a mythical minogame. The interior inscribed ‘Hokkyô Kôrin zô’ (Made by Hokkyô Kôrin). Referring to the design being in style of the master Ogata Kôrin, but the actual lacquer artist is unknown. It is a homage to Kôrin by an artist that followed the school of Rinpa. Including black lacquer wooden tomobako (tomobako). The Rinpa School was a key part of the Edo period revival of indigenous Japanese artistic interests described by the term yamato-e. Paintings, textiles, ceramics, and lacquerwares were decorated by Rinpa artists with vibrant colours applied in a highly decorative and patterned manner. Favoured themes, which often contained evocative references to nature and the seasons, were drawn from Japanese literature, notably The Tale of Genji, The Tales of Ise...

Exquisite white glazed porcelain figure (okimono) of a sitting child holding a spray of chrysanthemum flowers with cobalt blue glazed leaves in its hand, by Sakaida Kakiemon XII (1878–1963). The milk white glaze is called nigoshide a type of technique which was not continued at the end of the Edo period, and is the famous rediscovery done by Sakaida Kakiemon XII in 1953. The bottom signed ‘Kakiemon’. Sakaida Kakiemon XII assumed the family title on the death of his father, Sakaida Kakiemon XI, in 1917. Earlier he had graduated from the Arita Apprentice School and then studied ceramics with his father. Initially he worked in the traditional Kakiemon style, echoing the work of his forbears in the 17th and 18th centuries. He began working with his own son in 1924, after the future Kakiemon XIII graduated from the Arita Industrial School. Together in 1953 they succeeded in recreating the classical Kakiemon technique for producing a nigoshide milky-white porcelain body. This technique was designated a national cultural treasure meriting preservation and protection by the Cultural Protection Committee in 1955. That same year he exhibited at the 2nd Japan Traditional Crafts Exhibition (Nihon Dento Kogei-ten) for the first time, winning a prize for his entry. In 1958, he exhibited at the World Exposition...

An uniquely double-gourd-shaped lacquer suzuri’bako (writing box) with a design of gourd leaves, by Hara Yôyûsai (1769-1845). Covered with amber coloured l...

A captivating lacquer suzuri’bako (writing box) of rounded rectangular form depicting a pair of shishi (temple lions) and the lucky god Hotei 布袋 on a rôiro...

Exceptional, rare and completely restored wooden Sado ishô dansu (cabinet of drawers) with elaborately decorated open work iron hardware, in two sections. Fully restored, cleaned and waxed. The exterior is made of hinoki cypress wood. Only slightly varnished, giving it a tad warmer colour. This soft underground lets the refined hardware stand out even more. The upper part consists of two large drawers. The lower part with two drawers of different size and a hinged door. The interior behind the door with three small drawers. All the drawers are very deep and have a lot of volume, for easy storage. They run very smoothly as well. The cabinet has extensively decorated hardware. The corner pieces of the drawers with stylized pine trees. The large decorative lock plates each with their own unique design of different auspicious animals; a peacock, a phoenix, a crane and a minogame. The hinged door decorated with different attributes of the Seven Gods of Fortune...

An amazing pair of six-panel hinagata byôbu (doll festival folding screens) with a continuous painting on gold leaf showcasing flower carts (hana’guruma) at the edge of a winding river. Both laden with a large bamboo basket...

A charming gosho’ningyô (palace doll) of plump, seated child with a brilliant white skin and a small delicately elegant face, reminiscent of a young noble. The doll is playfully rais...

An elaborate, large six-panel byôbu (folding screen) featuring a detailed genre painting on gold leaf, capturing the vibrancy of festive scenes from the Edo period. Central to the p...