Page 49 - Bonhams May 16, 2019 London Japanese Art

64
A RARE, EARLY PORTABLE LACQUER
CABINET IN NANBAN STYLE
Momoyama period (1573-1615),
late 16th/early 17th century
Of black-lacquered wood with nine drawers,
two half-width drawers at the top and bottom
and four smaller drawers to either side of
a double-height central drawer fitted with
a lockplate, decorated in gold and silver
hiramaki-e and shell inlay with panels of
typical early Nanban motifs including kikyo
(Chinese bellflower), dense kuzu (kudzu vine)
with foliage, tachibana orange and Japanese
camellia enclosed within geometric shell
borders with additional formal decoration in
gold hiramaki-e, the interiors black lacquer,
the metal fittings gilt-copper, the drop-front
door a replacement.
24.5cm x 25.2cm x 23.9cm
(9 5/8in x 9 7/8in x 9 3/8in). (2).

£4,000 - 6,000
JPY580,000 - 870,000
US$5,200 - 7,800

For early Nanban lacquer cabinets of almost
identical construction and size, see James
C.Y. Watt and Barbara B. Ford, East Asian
Lacquer: The Florence and Herbert Irving
Collection, New York, Metropolitan Museum
of Art, 1991, cat. no.105 and Joe Earle,
Japanese Lacquer: The Denys Eyre Bower
Collection at Chiddingstone Castle, London,
Christie’s Books, 2000, cat. no.10.
65
A GOLD-LACQUER CIRCULAR 64
KAGAMIBAKO (BOX FOR A MIRROR)
AND COVER
Edo period (1615-1868),
late 17th/early 18th century
The cover decorated and inlaid in shell
hiramaki-e with a symmetrical arrangement of
scrolling lotus blossoms, the design extending
over the box, the interior of the cover of matt
gold, the interior of the box of pewter;
the rims of pewter.
2.6cm x 13.2cm (1in x 5 3/16in). (2).
£4,000 - 6,000
JPY580,000 - 870,000
US$5,200 - 7,800

Provenance
Louis Gonse Collection.

Published
Louis Gonse, L’art japonais, Paris, Maison
Quantin, 1886, p.257.

An almost identical lidded kagamibako with
pewter rims, decorated with the same motif 65
and executed in the same technique but
without the design extending over the box is
in the British Museum, inv.1952,0211.10.

For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue. FINE JAPANESE ART | 47