Page 359 - Chinese and japanese porcelain silk and lacquer Canepa

Fig. 4.1.1.2.6 Namban cabinet (ventó)
Momoyama/early Edo period, c.1600–1630
Height: 34cm; width: 30cm; depth: 45.5cm
Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem
(inv. no. OMII-3057)
designs of flowering and fruiting plants, animals and/or birds in makie and mother- 171 For images and a discussion on this type of cabinet,
of-pearl inlay, sometimes within large cartouches (usually of ovoid or lozenge forms) see Vinhais and Welsh, 2008/1, pp. 212–215, no. 20.
172 This type of cabinet was recorded in the Hōyaku
reserved on geometric patterns. Cabinets were also made of deep rectangular form Nippo jisho (Modern Japanese Translation of a
171
with a door hinged at the side, fitted with drawers on the interior and with a metal Japanese-Portuguese Dictionary), dating to about
1603, with the Japanese term ventó or bentó
carrying handle on top, which were called by the Portuguese ventó or bentó because (from bento). For a discussion and examples of
these cabinets, see Vinhais and Welsh, 2008/1,
it had similar features to the Japanese bento box, which were usually decorated on pp. 188–199, nos. 15 and 16.
the exterior with large lozenge or lobed-shaped cartouches of flowering plants and 173 For examples of this type, see Sakai City Museum,
Namban-Shikki – Cultural Exchange between
birds reserved on geometric grounds (Fig. 4.1.1.2.6). From the beginning of the East and West through Lacquer Craft, exhibition
172
catalogue, Osaka, 1983, p. 48, no. 47; and Gifu City
seventeenth century such cabinets (ventó), like the coffers discussed above, were also History Museum, 2003, p. 81, no. IV–17.
decorated with bird and/or animal scenes framed within cartouches reserved on panels 174 An example is discussed and illustrated in Vinhais
and Welsh, 2008/1, pp. 194–199, no. 16.
of the ‘sprinkle denticle’ technique, or were covered entirely in this technique, which 175 Compare, for instance, an Indo-Portuguese
173
lacquered wood writing box dating to the sixteenth
imitates ray skin. Namban chests of rectangular shape with flat lids hinged to open century illustrated in Pedro de Moura Carvalho,
174
upwards, fitted with side metal carrying handles, were made after Indo-Portuguese ‘A group of early lacquered furniture for the
Portuguese market and its probable origin in the
writing chests or boxes made in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. These Bay of Bengal and Coromandel Coast’, in Calouste
175
Gulbenkian Museum, The World of Lacquer, 2000
chests, made in both small and large size, were typically fitted with one, two or four Years of History, exhibition catalogue, Lisbon, 2001,
drawers at the base of the front side. Some of them were made with cushion-shaped p. 148, no. 72. Two further examples are published
176
in Bernardo Ferrão, Mobiliário Português. Dos
lids and no drawers. All the easily portable cabinets and chests of relatively small size Primórdios ao Maneirismo, Índia e Japão, vol. III,
177
Oporto, 1990, p. 161, nos. 420–421. For an example
discussed above were most probably used by the Portuguese to hold documents, jewels dating to the seventeenth century, formerly in the
or other small objects of value. António Bocarro, writing in 1635, describes the lacquer convent of S. José in Évora, see Mendes Pinto, 1985,
p. 50, no. 28.
goods taken from Japan to Goa as ‘much giltwork, which comes from Japan and which 176 For a discussion and an example of a Namban chest,
see Vinhais and Welsh, 2008/1, pp. 242–245, no. 27.
is much better than that from China … and many small items like circular boxes and 177 An example in a private collection in Portugal is
published in Impey and Jörg, 2005, p. 144, no. 301.
writing cabinets of chorão [lacquer], all extremely fine’. 178 António Bocarro, Livro das Plantas e de todas as
178
Spanish written sources suggest that a number of lacquer cabinets, described fortalezas, cidades e povoados do estado da Índia
Oriental, 1635, ms B.P.A.D, Évora – cod. CXV/2–1.
as escritoires and/or writing desks, were sent to Spain as gifts from male and female Cited in Mendes Pinto, 1990, p. 32.
358 Silk, Porcelain and Lacquer
Fig. 4.1.1.2.7 Namban bed
Momoyama/early Edo period, c.1600–1650
Dimensions: 157cm x 195cm x 122cm
Private Collection, Portugal
members of the elites and clergy living in the Philippines and New Spain in the early
seventeenth century. In 1615, for example, Martin de la Cueva, regidor in Manila,
sent to his sister Doña Maria de la Cueva in Úbeda, a consignment of 2 Japanese
escritoires. Three years later, Don Alonso Fajardo, Governor of the Philippines
179
between 1618 and 1624, sent several escritories, writing desks and beds from Japan to
Seville. That same year, in 1618, the Count of Santiago sent from New Spain to his
180
wife who lived in Spain, a consignment that included 2 folding screens, 2 writing desks
from Japan, and 1 chest from Japan, as well as several pieces of woven and raw silks
from China. It was also that year, that the Marchioness of Guadalcázar, vicereine of
181
New Spain, sent to her sister in Madrid a consignment that included an escritoire and a
chest from Japan, and several little boxes. In 1619, the Jesuit Martin de Orujas from
182
New Spain sent 3 escritoires from Japan (alongside 9 pieces of satin) as a gift to Father
Jacobo Tirino in Antwerp. The mention of beds from Japan sent as gifts in 1618 by
183
Governor Alfonso Fajardo from the Philippines to Seville is of particular interest to
this study. We learn from Jesuit textual sources that folding beds were brought to Japan
at least as early as 1563. In a letter written by Father Luís Fróis at the port of Hirado
in November of that year, he states that ‘Approximately one month after we had been
in this port Dom Bartolomeu [the recently converted Omura Sumitada] arrived to see
179 AGI, Contratación, 1831, pp. 131–132. Mentioned in the priest and the Portuguese. We immediately went with the captain to visit him and
Gasch-Tomás, 2012, p. 63.
180 AGI, Contratación, 1849, pp. 204–208. Mentioned in gave him some seahorse beads I had brought from India with a holy bead set in gold,
Gasch-Tomás, 2012, p. 56.
181 AGI, Contratación, 1852A, pp. 505–508. Mentioned which he greatly appreciated and placed round his neck … Dom Pedro [Captain-
in Gasch-Tomás, 2012, p. 57.
182 AGI, Contratación, 1847, pp. 112–117. Mentioned in General Dom Péro da Guerra] had given us a present that we took to him because for
Gasch-Tomás, 2012, p. 73. them it is a new thing, we went to his house, brother João Fernadez and myself and
183 AGI, Contratación, 1853, pp. 181–185. Mentioned in
Gasch-Tomás, 2012, p. 66. he thanked us very much for what we took which was a gold folding bed and a silk
Trade in Japanese Lacquer 359