Lucio Morini Gallery Lacquer

A fine and impressive Japanese gold maki-e decorated black lacquer five-tier jubako with presentation tray, two lids, and the original tomobako storage box, Meiji period, late 19th c...

Japanese Samurai Abumi Stirrups lacquer Edo late 18th century, early 19th century. Measures: 12 inch length, 10 inch height, 5.5 inch width. AVANTIQUES is dedicated to providing an...

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...

Chinese six-panel folding screen with decorative carved forest with standing and flying cranes, with reverse side depicting village and figures of people, terminating on brass square...

A fine antique Japanese Meji Period lacquer box decorated with a fan and a stylized star shaped window in the maki-e technique. The fan at the top right corner, fully opened depictin...

A very fine Japanese maki-e lacquer decorated tabako bon, or smoking box, late Edo Period, mid-19th century, Japan. The elegant smoking box of black lacquer decorated with a wonderful gold lacquer takamaki-e design of a gnarled and elegantly twisted plum tree with branches in full bloom. A border of golden cranes in flight to the top. The smoking box, called a tabako bon, is comprised of an open section at the top with inset with two cylindrical metal canisters...

Rectangular kobako box in takamaki-e and kirigane gold lacquer circled with pewter depicting a lake landscape. Inside and back of the box in nashi-ji lacquer. Japan – Edo period (16...

Pair of stylish Chinoiserie panels in a lacquer finish, painted in gold, red & black with landscapes with village and people. The frame also decorat...

Chinese Coromandel figural red lacquer 12-panel screen depicting pagoda and landscape scenes, decorative gilt floral border panels, gilt carved lower panels, and reverse side depicti...

An antique jubako (stack boxes) with five tiers in an elongated octagon shape circa 19th century (end of Edo or beginning of Meiji period). jubako was traditionally used to store and...

A fine Japanese pictoral style lacquer cabinet with gilt-metal mounts Kyoto, Edo period, 1670-1690 Decorated in Japanese relief lacquer work, black lacquer ground decorated...

A spectacular Japanese maki-e lacquer lidded box, possibly a writing box, suzuribako, decorated with images of folding fans, ogi, Edo Period, earl...