Page 50 - Christies Japanese and Korean Art Sept 22 2020 NYC

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A MOTHER-OF-PEARL INLAID LACQUER TIERED BOX In the late sixteenth century, Japanese lacquer makers had a global
clientele and vied to come up with innovative designs. They
EDO PERIOD (17TH CENTURY)
produced portable desks and boxes for the European, and especially
The three-tiered square box and cover decorated in gold, silver, and the Portuguese, market. The style is known as nanban (literally,
polychrome lacquer hiramaki-e and takamaki-e and inlaid in mother-
“southern barbarian”), meaning foreign. Bands of geometric
of-pearl on a black ground with geometric patterns
patterns in mother-of-pearl reflect Moorish or Gujarati influence on
8Ω x 7¿ x 7¿ in. (21.6 x 18.1 x 20 cm.)
this exotic, hybrid style. For a box with similar geometric bands in
$50,000-70,000 the collection of Suntory Museum of Art, see Nihon no bi to takumi
(Japanese Beauty and Craftmanship), exh. cat. (Nagoya: Nagoya
City Museum and Suntory Museum of Art, 1992), no. 39.

(another view)