Fine Japanese Gilt Black Lacquer Tea Chest, c. 1850

This simple lacquered box was once used as a 19th-century snack box, presented as a gift during holidays and special occasions. To the delight of the recipients, the unassuming box w...

With intricate construction and exquisite decoration, this fine tabletop writing set is a masterpiece of Japanese lacquerware. The matching set includes a writing table (bundai) and poem box (tanzaku bako), both decorated with gilt lacquer in the style of takamaki-e and hiramaki-e urushi lacquer. Framed by everted ends, the lacquered table top is masterfully worked, depicting a robed man seated on a veranda within an idyllic mountain-and-water landscape. Swirling clouds drift overhead and pine trees bend towards the sky, formed of raised lacquer (takamaki-e) and mother of pearl inlay (raden). Dark lacquer at the corners imitate metal hardware and the sculptural corner legs are decorated with raised motifs of maple leaves. The writing table includes a matching poem box (tanzaku bako), used for storing paper cards of painted calligraphy and poetry. The lid is similarly decorated in shimmering gilt lacquer with a raised design of a fine carriage beneath a pine tree, draped in cloths and shaded by bamboo blinds...

This simple lacquered container was once used as a 19th-century snack box, presented as a gift during holidays and special occasions. To the delight of the r...

In many southeast Asian cultures, offering guests a betel quid to chew was the fundamental symbol of hospitality. A blend of leaves, nuts, seasonings, and sometimes tobacco, betel was kept in finely worked and decorated boxes. This round container was originally the lid to a Burmese betel box...

A fine Japanese miniature kodansu constructed from Kaki wood (Persimmon) circa 19th century, late Meiji period. With its expressive exotic wood grains and exposed tenon construction,...

A very attractive Japanese wood table top jewelry or collector's chest with marquetry and lacquer decoration, Meiji period, circa 1900, Japan. Previously in the collection of Asbjorn Lunde (1927 - 2017). The chest is crafted in the form of a Chinese seal...

A four-case lacquered Japanese inro by Yutokusai (Gyokkei), a lacquer artist active from 1845-1900 (end of Edo to Meiji period). The slightly round inro features a very intricate design with three unfolded fans on the front and two on the back: each reveals a vignette landscape scenery, likely real places in Japan. Using a combination of hiramaki-e and slight takamaki-e, the artist deftly created the pictures with fine details, rendering the inro as a miniature artwork...

This antique card box is unsigned or initialed, so the specific artist is unknown, but is believed to have been made in Japan in circa 1900 in the per...