Page 376 - Chinese and japanese porcelain silk and lacquer Canepa

was inventoried in the Royal Danish Kunstkammer in 1690, and is now housed at
the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen (Fig. 4.1.2.5). A comb case or
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toilet box like this example, intended to protect a hair comb and a removable framed
mirror, would have been a valuable object to attend personal hygiene and comfort
while at home or travelling. The shape of the comb case, having a removable lid
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that was originally secured with a string running on a channel at either long side of the
rectangular body, was most probably made after comb cases that were usually moulded
and stitched in leather used throughout Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
(Fig. 4.1.2.6). The earliest reference of the shipment of lacquer comb cases appears
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to be that of the invoice listing the lacquer sent by Jacques Specks to Bantam on the
VOC ship Enckhuysen, on 28 February 1616, which included 4 lacquered camdoosen
(boxes for combs). Another reference is found in an entry written by Richard Cocks
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in his diary, dated 15 October 1617, in which he states ‘I paid Maky Dono, for 20
comb cases, 6 taies bars’. This diary entry informs us that Richard Cocks, as he had
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done earlier in the month of July, ordered lacquer pieces made after European shapes
Left
Fig. 4.1.2.5 Namban comb case or toilet box 281 Published in Bente Dam-Mikkelsen and Torben in sets of twenty. The following year, in 1618, Richard Cocks placed a very large order
Momoyama/early Edo period, c.1600–1620 Lundbaek (eds.), Ethnographic Objects in The Royal of comb cases. A diary entry of 15 December states that the lacquer ‘Maky Dono’ was
Height: 17cm Danish Kunstkammer 1650–1800, Copenhagen,
286
National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen 1980, pp. 228–230, cat. Eac 139; and Impey and Jörg, to deliver within five months, included ‘100 comb cases, at 5 ½ mas. peece’.
(inv. no. EAc 139) 2005, pp. 158–159, ill. 361. The vertical arrangement of the flowering and fruiting branches of the Namban
282 Double-edged hair combs made in a variety
of materials, including ivory, boxwood and tankard and comb case discussed above relates closely to that seen on a small number of
Right tortoiseshell, seem to have been fashionable
Fig. 4.1.2.6 Moulded leather comb personal accessories for both men and women from extant lacquer bottles of tall square section with rounded, sloping shoulders and narrow
case with lid about 1400 well into the seventeenth century. In the cylindrical necks, known as tokkuri, decorated in the Namban style (Fig. 4.1.2.7).
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Italy early years of the century, flat mirrors were scarce
Woutersen sent to Specks another shipment of lacquer that included ‘1 bos bierbeeckers Fifteenth century and expensive, and were mostly made of speculum, It was previously suggested that the body of the bottles was made in both wood and
of 5 pieces’. The beer beakers, sent along with other lacquer by Specks to Bantam Height: 12cm; width: 12cm; depth: 3cm a highly polished alloy often called steel, rather than metal, but all the extant examples appear to be made of lacquered wood. The sides
277
288
glass. These were small and usually in the form of
Victoria and Albert Museum, London hand-held looking glass. Jill Turnbull and Alexander
on the VOC ship Enckhuysen just a few days later, are described in the invoice as nests (museum no. 15–1891) Shepherd, The Scottish Glassmaking Industry, are decorated with flowering trees framed by scrolling vines in makie or a border of
of five, fitting into each other. This indicates, as noted by Impey and Jörg, that the 1610–1750: The Serve the Whole Nation with Glass, sprinkled particles of mother-of-pearl inlay (aogai). Storage boxes of rectangular shape
278
Edinburgh, 2001, p. 51.
beer beakers did not have handles and were probably of tall, cylindrical shape with 283 The leather example illustrated here, probably with a flat lid were made to order in lacquer to store and transport a set of six of these
and everted rim made after European pewter and silver models, such as the Dutch made for an ivory comb, has two integral loops at bottles. A storage box that appears to be a unique example of this type decorated
either side for a cord or thong.
examples illustrated in Figs. 3.4.2.1.21 and 3.4.2.1.23. Lacquer tankards are first 284 VOC 1063. Letter-book received from Batavia 1617. with naturalistic compositions of flowering trees, birds and animals in the Namban
279
Cited in Impey and Jörg, 2005, p. 244.
mentioned in an entry of the diary of Richard Cocks dated 14 July 1617, which reads: 285 Thompson, 1883, vol. I, p. 323. Cited in Impey and style, still containing six bottles, is now housed in the Kyoto National Museum (Fig.
Jörg, 2005, p. 238.
‘I rec. a letter from Magazemon Dono, our host in Miaco, with a box of 20 ordenary 286 Thompson, 1883, vol. II, p. 103. Cited in Impey and 4.1.2.8). The bottles, as well as the storage box, have been dated to the Momoyama
289
fans, for a present, in it. Also an other from the maky dono, with 3 boxes or chistes Jörg, 2005, p. 240. or early Edo periods, c.1580–1620. This dating seems to be associated with the fact
287 For a discussion on these bottles and images of a
maky ware, which were opened, viz.: In one chist, 20 tankards…’. In December of pair of these bottles (including the bottle illustrated that the square-sectioned shape resembles closely that of porcelain bottles first made
this same year, he wrote ‘I sent Jno. Derickson Lamb [Jan Dirckz. Lam], the Dutch here), unusually decorated with the edges of to order for the Portuguese after European glass prototypes at the kilns of Jingdezhen
the shoulders and sides with randomly shaped
general, a present, viz.: …1 tankard maky work, 4 beakers maky work’. The lacquer fragments of mother-of-pearl instead of the scrolling in China in the late sixteenth century discussed in Chapter III (Fig. 3.4.1.2.5). The
290
280
vine (karakusa) seen on the Bunkakan examples, see
acquired by Richard Cocks for ‘my Lady Smith’ in January 1618, to be subsequently Vinhais and Welsh, 2008/1, pp. 200–203, no. 17. earliest textual evidence of orders of lacquer bottles and storage boxes, however, dates
shipped via Bantam to England, also included ’02 tankareds, cost 0160’ and ’20 288 For this opinion, see Impey and Jörg, 2005, p. 102. to 1616. In July of that year, Richard Wickham writing from Osaka informs Richard
289 The box containing the six bottles and the set of
beakers, cost 0600’. These excerpts indicate that both lacquer tankards and beakers six bottles in the Kyoto National Museum, formerly Cocks at Hirado that ‘I have r’c’d of the maky dono, sent me per Coe Jno unto Osacay,
in a private collection in Crewkerne, Dorset, are
were ordered by the English, some to be sent as gifts to the VOC representatives or sent published in Impey and Jörg, 2005, pp. 100–101, your 2 cases of bottles w’ch Mr Eaton bespake, alsoe 10 bekers or drinking cupps w’ch
among private consignments of lacquer to individuals in England. Interestingly, the ills. 158a and b. The box with the bottles was also he made for mee, for as the 100 that Mr Eaton bespoke he hath not done one of them.
published in Canepa, 2008/1, p. 23, fig. 9. A pair
shape of this extant Namban lacquer tankard with a loop handle with curved terminal of bottles with flaring copper mounts at the neck Nevertheless, yf they like you, take them …’. In a letter written on 17 September
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similarly decorated to those in the Kyoto National
closely resembles that of one of the models of porcelain tankards made to order for Museum can be found in the Namban Bunkakan in of that same year from Sakai, Richard Wickham informs John Osterwick at Hirado
the Dutch after a European model at the Jingdezhen kilns in China in the late 1630s Osaka. Published in Sakai City Museum, 1983, p. 50, that the lacquer he was sending included ‘2 cases of bottles, 24 gopas & 24 spones, 3
no. 49.
(Fig. 3.4.2.1.16). Related handles were previously used on mother-of-pearl ewers made 290 For a discussion on these bottles and the European saltseles & ten bekers; all w’ch I pray dd Capt’ Cock [Ricard Cocks] at this coming
277 NFJ 276. Letter-book Deshima 1614–16. Cited in glass prototypes, see section 3.4.1.2 of Chapter III.
to order for the Portuguese in Gujarat in the mid-sixteenth century (Fig. 4.1.1.2.2). Impey and Jörg, 2005, p. 244. 291 Farrington, 1991, p. 440. Cited in Impey and Jörg, downe’. Among the lacquer acquired by Richard Cocks in 1618 for ‘Lady Smith’
292
2005, p. 237.
Another lacquer example of this date that appears to be unique is a comb case 278 Mentioned in Ibid. 292 Farrington, 1991, pp. 479–480. Cited in Impey and was a chest ‘No. 2 containing 1 case botelles, cost 10 0 0’. These excerpts suggest
293
279 bid., p. 206.
I
or toilet box of rectangular form with a removable lid and a concealed side drawer 280 Cited in Ayers, Impey and Mallet, 1990, p. 76; Impey Jörg, 2005, p. 238. that bottles were made to order for the EIC servants in sets of an unknown number
and Jörg, 2005, pp. 238–239; and Canepa, 2008/1, 293 Thompson, 1883, p. 9. Cited in Impey and Jörg, 2005,
at the base, decorated with fruiting branches in the Namban style. The comb case p. 27. p. 239. (most probably six) alongside boxes in which they were stored. Thus it can be argued
374 Silk, Porcelain and Lacquer Trade in Japanese Lacquer 375