Lacquered Handfan Handpainted Landscape Mount Fuji Mother of Pearl Japan 1900

Two Japanese mother of pearl wood dishes, very beautiful pieces. Measures: Large one H 2” x L 13.5” x W 10”.

A rare pair of Kyoto-Nagasaki style lacquer and mother-of-pearl inlaid knife urns Edo period, early 19th century Measures: Height 71 x diameter 30 cm ?Formed as urns with vertically lifting covers and elongated finials, revealing fitted green velvet lined interiors for knives, decorated overall with birds, flowering stems, faux-fluting and oval panels with landscapes. The square plinth is raised on four bracket feet. Inside the lifting cover of one of the urns are Japanese characters, supposedly indications of some code by the craftsman. A closely related knife urn, now in the collection of the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem (inv. E 73115), was acquired in Nagasaki by Captain Samuel Gardner Derby of the Margareth of Salem in 1801. Captain Gardner Derby traded in Nagasaki under charter from the VOC (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie), the Dutch East India Company. Between 1797 and 1814 Holland was occupied by the French and from 1811 until 1816 Java by the English. During these periods practically no Dutch shipping was possible between Holland and Batavia (Jakarta) or between Batavia (Jakarta) and Nagasaki. To maintain a minimum amount of shipping between Batavia (Jakarta) and Nagasaki, between 1797 and 1807, the VOC chartered mainly American ships. American captains and officers ordered and bought mainly lacquered furniture in an American-English style, completely different from what the Dutch up till then had ordered. The present knife urns were possibly also ordered and acquired by Captain Gardner Derby during his stay in Deshima/Nagasaki in 1801. Another similarly neoclassical shaped knife urn in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum Oxford (inv. 1996.17) appears to be signed by woodworker Kiyotomo koreo tsukuru (Kiyomoto made this). The same name, together with an address in the Sanjo-Teramachi District of Kyoto, has been found inside a fragmentary urn in a private collection. This is an indication that European-style furniture was not only lacquered in Japan but made there as well. This undoubtedly is not only true for knife-urns, but all European- style furniture lacquered in Japan after circa 1800 was made by Japanese furniture makers...

A fine and unusual Japanese black lacquer and mother of pearl inlaid box, Momoyama Period, 16th century, Japan. The large box and cover featu...

A Japanese export lacquer tripod table with feet shaped as bats Nagasaki, 1850-1860 H. 73 x diam. 108 cm The six-lobbed top is decorated with reverse-painted mother-of-pearl in a sprawling motif of plum blossom, bamboo, and peonies, surrounded by fluttering sparrows enhanced by details in maki-e. The table, made to appeal to a foreign audience, incorporates a curious mixture of seasonal references. In addition to the decoration of foliage from late winter and spring, the column is decorated with grapes and a rabbit pounding rice, both Japanese motifs for autumn and the month of September. The feet, shaped like bats that almost appear to wake up from hibernation, symbolise luck and happiness in Japan. The present flamboyant Nagasaki-style table is depicted in the Asada workshop drawings of 1856. These drawings, titled Aogai makie hiinagata hikae (memorandum of designs for lacquer with inlaid pearl...