Page 152 - Bonhams Auction NYC Japanese and Korean Art March 15, 2017

ANOTHER PROPERTY

6318W
AN INLAID LACQUER TABLE
Korea, Joseon dynasty (1392-1897), 19th century
Rectangular and set on cabriole legs and decorated in inlaid mother-
of pearl with a map of the Korean pennisula, the sides and legs
decorated with chrysanthemum and scrolling vines
58 x 40 x 14in (147.3 x 101.6 x 35.5cm)

US$8,000 - 12,000

Provenance
Purportedly presented to Mitsuhito, Emperor Meiji in 1898
from Yi Ha-Eung (Daewongun)
木戸 幸一 Kido Koichi (1889-1977), Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal
of Japan from 1940 to 1945, by repute

According to related documents written in 1954, this table was made
to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s
Korean campaigns (1592-1598). Yi Ha-eung (1820-1898) reportedly
presented the table to the Meiji Emperor in 1898. This fact is had
to prove however, given the degree of anti-Japanese sentiment in
Korea during this period and the fact that according to historian Bruce
Cumings, Ha-eung himself adapted a foreign policy of “no treaties, no
trade, no Catholics, no West and no Japan”.

Yi was forced into retirement in 1874 when the rightful heir to the
throne came of age. However Yi was once again called into service
in 1894 by the Japanese during their occupation of Korea. The
occupying government needed a suitable leader who would be
amenable to their policies. This tributary gift could have been given
during this brief period before Yi’s death in 1898.

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