A superb Japanese export lacquer writing box

A rare Japanese export lacquer medical instrument box Edo-period, 1650-1700 L. 19 x W. 6 x H. 8.5 cm This unconventionally shaped lacquer b...

A Japanese Nagasaki export lacquer box with mother-of-pearl depiction of the Amsterdam ‘Trippenhuis’ Edo-period, circa 1830 H. 12.5 x W. 24...

Meiji period, circa 1873-1887 The black lacquered box decorated in maki-e and hiramaki-e gold, with on the lid a European style building complex and several Japanese and European figures walking along a street in the foreground. The sides are finely decorated with several insects and the inside with several compartments and nashiji decoration. H. 7.4 x W. 29 x D. 25.7 cm After the Americans forced Japan to open their harbours to the outside world and take part in international treaty and trade around the mid 19th century, the formerly feudal society rapidly changed. Japan was now focussing on an industrial future. One of the major international ports was Yokohama with its foreign embassies and warehouses - which attracted a great number of visitors of all sorts. For the higher society visiting Japan for the first time a new and ‘Western’ hotel had to be realised; hence the construction of The Grand Hotel on Kaigandori. The hotel was opened on August 16, 1873 (Meiji 6) and was soon considered the height of Western culture and elegance in Japan. The building probably depicted on this box, designed by American architect Richard P. Bridgens (リチャード・ブリジェンス, 1819 -1891), is the original hotel...

A fine Japanese export red lacquer box with Masonic symbols Kyoto/Nagasaki, 1800-1820 Red lacquer decorated with scattered flowers and flying birds with long tails in gold, wit...

A Japanese Lacquer writing box Suzuribako Meiji Period (1868-1912), likely circa late 19th century. This suzuribako is one of the most unusual boxe...

An exceptionally fine and unusual Japanese lacquer writing implements box, suzuribako, in the form of a zither, koto, Edo Period, 18th century, Japan. With a modern wood storage box,...

A small Japanese black and gold lacquer suzuribako (writing box) with cartwheels in water, by the artist Hattori Toshio (1943). Of rectangular form with rounded corners, bearing a lustrous rôiro ground throughout, the exterior sides of the box and exterior of the cover finely decorated in gold and little silver takamaki-e with cartwheels flowing in a dynamically executed body of water with many swirls and gushes as well as scattered dew drops, the interior tray fitted with a rectangular ink stone and silver suiteki (waterdropper). The underside signed ‘Toshi’. With the original wooden tomobako with hakogaki reading Namikuruma makie suzuribako (The writing box set, with a design of wheels in water), as well as a leaflet written in Japanese with the artist’s biography up to 1987. Hattori Toshio (b. 1943), art name Hattori Shunsho, was first selected for the Nitten exhibition in Showa 38 (1963). Since then, he has exhibited more than twenty times at the Nitten and other exhibitions, winning numerous prestigious awards. In 1995, he had an audience with Pope John Paul II and presented the Pope with a lacquer reading table. In 2004, he created the shelves for the guest room of the Kyoto State Guest House of the Government of Japan. He is a member of the Kyoto Crafts Artists Association, the Kyoto Lacquer...

Rare pair of Japanese Nagasaki Export lacquered wood knife boxes with mother-of-pearl inlay of flowers and birds, now converted to letter boxes...