Edo Furniture
EDO STYLE
Edo furniture was created during a flourishing time for the decorative arts owing to the stability of the Tokugawa shogunate rule in Japan. Spanning from 1603 to 1867, this era of peace and economic growth supported artistic advancements in lacquer, woodblock printing, porcelain and other artisanal trades. Because the country was largely isolated, there was little outside influence, leading to centuries of exceptional attention to the design of its furnishings and the quality of its traditional arts.
Unlike during the Meiji period that followed, with an increase in domestic and international markets, furniture during the Edo period was predominately commissioned by the ruling class, although people from across social groups benefited from the burgeoning metropolitan hubs for artisanal trades. For instance, Kyoto became a major center for lacquer art. Most furniture pieces were made from wood such as cedar or ash, including the era’s sashimono cabinets, which involved fine joinery and were rooted in the Heian period.
Sashimono cabinets, which were built by master craftsmen in a range of different wood types owing to the various trees that populate Japan, occasionally featured a stack of slender drawers as well as sliding doors. They were popular with everyone from samurai to kabuki actors. Tansu storage chests crafted from wood with metal fittings were also common in Edo-period homes. Some were designed to be easily portable while others were made to double as staircases.
Painted folding screens, called byōbu, were also fashionable, with Japanese artists inspired by nature, literature and scenes of history and daily life to create vivid works. In Buddhist temples and the palatial homes of the aristocratic class, fusuma, or large sliding panels, would sometimes be adorned with gold or silver leaf. These dividers allowed interiors to change throughout the day, closing in small spaces for personal use or reflecting candlelight to illuminate communal spaces after dark.
Find a collection of Edo tables, lighting, decorative objects, wall decorations and more furniture on 1stDibs.
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Style: Edo
19th Century Japanese Cinnabar / Lacquer Cabinet
Located in Fulton, CA
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...
Category
Late 19th Century Japanese Antique Edo Furniture
Materials
Wood, Lacquer
Japanese Tansu Storage Chest (19th Century - Edo Period) Wabi Sabi
Located in London, GB
Japanese Tansu Storage Chest (Edo Period - 19th Century). Tansu are traditional portable wooden storage chests from Japan. In Japanese traditional houses...
Category
19th Century Japanese Antique Edo Furniture
Materials
Wood
Japanese Kuruma-dansu
Located in Point Richmond, CA
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...
Category
Mid-19th Century Japanese Antique Edo Furniture
Materials
Wood
19th thick lattice door, antique sliding door w/ panel. Japanese wabi sabi shoji
Located in 常陸大宮市, JP
Japanese antique thick lattice sliding door, ara-koshido,
Edo to Meiji period circa 1870s to early 1900s.
Nowadays it's getting harder & more rare to find a sliding door with thick...
Category
Late 19th Century Japanese Antique Edo Furniture
Materials
Wood
18th Edo Japanese antique wabi sabi low writing desk from Nikko To-sho-gu Shrine
Located in 常陸大宮市, JP
Product of Mid to late Edo period (late 18th - early 19th), or older.
New finds from Nikko Toshogu Shrine (UNESCO world heritage site) which is dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu - the real SHOGUN himself, the founder of Tokugawa Edo Shogunate.
This low writing desk had been used at Nikko Toshogu's shrine office since Edo period, and was kept there with care till recently.
Fully made of premium quality Keyaki Zelkova wood, the top board is still almost flat.
The leg parts have engraved lines to flame the edge & around the hole, which is rare additional decoration for this type of writing desk. It means this piece is special.
The drawer has antique iron ring...
Category
Late 18th Century Japanese Antique Edo Furniture
Materials
Wood, Hardwood
Japanese Antique "Staircase Chest" 'Late Edo Period-Meiji Period' /Cabinet
Located in Sammu-shi, Chiba
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...
Category
19th Century Japanese Antique Edo Furniture
Materials
Cedar
Antique Japanese Karuma Tansu
Located in Los Angeles, CA
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...
Category
18th Century Japanese Antique Edo Furniture
Materials
Wood
Extraordinary Japanese Hand Thrown Blue And White Wabi-Sabi Vase, Early 19thc.
Located in South Burlington, VT
A recent find: an old Japanese SHOKI-IMARI blue-and-white porcelain ware bottle
with unique hand painted designs called Kusabana-Chou-Monyou (Grass, flower, and butterfly patterns)...
Category
Early 19th Century Japanese Antique Edo Furniture
Materials
Pottery
19th thick black lattice door. antique sliding door. wabi sabi Japanese shoji
Located in 常陸大宮市, JP
Japanese antique thick lattice sliding door, ara-koshido.
Edo to Meiji period circa 1870s to early 1900s.
Nowadays it's getting harder & more rare to find a sliding door with thick,...
Category
Late 19th Century Japanese Antique Edo Furniture
Materials
Wood
17th Century Japanese Export Lacquer Cabinet with Depiction the Dutch Tradepost
Located in Amsterdam, NL
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...
Category
17th Century Japanese Antique Edo Furniture
Materials
Copper, Gold
Japanese Late Edo Period Kiri and Cypress Tansu 'Merchant's Chest'
Located in San Francisco, CA
A fine Japanese late Edo period kiri wood (chestnut) and cypress wood tansu (merchant's chest) with multiple drawers of various sizes including a sliding section. Having original red...
Category
Mid-19th Century Japanese Antique Edo Furniture
Materials
Iron
19th Century Shop Chest/Cabinet with Sliding Doors and Drawers
Located in Los Angeles, CA
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...
Category
20th Century Japanese Edo Furniture
Materials
Iron
Late Edo period chest of drawers for sewing
Located in CARLTON, AU
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...
Category
Late 19th Century Japanese Antique Edo Furniture
Materials
Cedar
Japanese Export Lacquer Mother-of-Pearl Secretaire for the American Market
Located in Amsterdam, NL
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 ...
Category
1810s Japanese Antique Edo Furniture
Materials
Mother-of-Pearl, Wood
Japanese Silk Thread Wood Winder Complete with Spool and Functioning Gears
Located in Point Richmond, CA
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...
Category
Late 19th Century Japanese Antique Edo Furniture
Materials
Wood, Hardwood
Antique Japanese Fireman's Water Bucket and Tools, Edo Period, 19th Century
Located in Point Richmond, CA
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...
Category
Late 19th Century Japanese Antique Edo Furniture
Materials
Wood
Two Compatible Japanese Lacquered Calligraphy Stands
Located in Bridgeport, CT
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...
Category
20th Century Japanese Edo Furniture
Materials
Wood
Vintage Life-Edge Etched and Painted Japanese Tea Table
Located in Phoenix, AZ
This is a one of a kind vintage life-edge tea table made in Japan. The table is 43" long, 30" wide and 12.5" high. It was made most likely out of teak simetime between 1940-1950. The...
Category
Mid-20th Century Japanese Edo Furniture
Materials
Teak, Softwood
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156 to 159 years-old antique low writing desk with 2 drawers.
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We sell carefully selected old Japanese items.
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Based on that experience, only selected items are posted here.
We are able to do this b...
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H 19.81 in W 28.86 in D 14.77 in
Edo furniture for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a broad range of unique Edo furniture for sale on 1stDibs. Many of these items were first offered in the Mid-20th Century, but contemporary artisans have continued to produce works inspired by this style. If you’re looking to add vintage furniture created in this style to your space, the works available on 1stDibs include asian art and furniture, case pieces and storage cabinets, decorative objects and other home furnishings, frequently crafted with wood, cedar and other materials. If you’re shopping for used Edo furniture made in a specific country, there are Asia, East Asia, and Japan pieces for sale on 1stDibs. It’s true that these talented designers have at times inspired knockoffs, but our experienced specialists have partnered with only top vetted sellers to offer authentic pieces that come with a buyer protection guarantee. Prices for furniture differ depending upon multiple factors, including designer, materials, construction methods, condition and provenance. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $650 and tops out at $1,386,932 while the average work can sell for $3,200.