Page 383 - Chinese and japanese porcelain silk and lacquer Canepa

Figs. 4.1.2.17a and b Document box,
the ‘Van Diemen Box’
Early Edo period, c.1636–1639
Height: 16cm; width: 48.3cm; depth: 36.7cm
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
(museum no. W.49-1916)

examples of similar large size but of shallow, cylindrical shape with a flat base, may
have been used to store a ruff collar or a wide-brimmed hat.
308
In the early Edo period, the Dutch also had folding chairs with lacquer decoration
308 Two examples can be found in the Palazzo Pitti in
Florence (hiramakie and mother-of-pearl inlay) and made to order for them after models they brought to Japan. An apparently unique
the Kynžvart Castle in the Czech Republic (inv. no. extant example, formerly in a private collection in Japan, has an X-frame, curved legs
KY 9930). Published in Impey and Jörg, 2005, p. 110,
ills. 196 and 197, respectively. The use of these boxes of square cross-section and two rows of arcaded rails joined by balusters in the back
to hold a hat, as noted by Morena, is suggested
309
by the fact that the earliest reference of the box (Fig. 4.1.2.14). The shape copies that of small folding chairs made in rosewood
in the Palazzo Pitti is found in the inventory of the and ebony which were carried by women to the church in the Dutch Republic in the
estate of Cardinal Leopoldo de’ Medici (1617–1675).
Francesco Morena, ‘Scatola’, in Morena, 2012, pp. second quarter of the seventeenth century, such as an example in the Rijksmuseum
356–357, no. II.52 (p. 558, English version).
310
309 Published and discussed in Namiko Takeuchi, in Amsterdam. The popularity of this type of church chair at the time is attested
‘Two Examples of Japanese Lacquer Chairs’, in by an example depicted in an engraved plate with designs for nine chairs published
Michael Kühlenthal (ed.), East Asian and European
Lacquer Techniques, Arbeitshefte des Bayerischen by Crispijn van de Passe the Younger (1593–1670) in his Oficina Arcularia in Qua
Landesamtes für Denkmalpflege, 112, Munich, 2000,
pp. 57–60; Jan Veenendaal, ‘Furniture in Batavia’, in sunt ad spectantia diversa Eximia exempla ex varijs autoribus collecta in Amsterdam, in
Titus Eliëns (ed.), Domestic Interiors at the Cape and 1642 (Fig. 4.1.2.15). The arcaded rails in the back, as well as the front and back
311
in Batavia 1602–1795, Zwolle, 2002, p. 27, fig. 10; and
Impey and Jörg, 2005, pp. 141 and 143, ill. 292. stretchers of such Dutch church chairs were decorated with low relief carving of floral
310 The Rijksmuseum example, and one other formerly in
the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague, are published motifs, and they usually had floral carved finials at the top of the back legs and twist-
in Jan Veenendaal, Furniture from Indonesia, Shri turned balusters. A Dutch church chair like the example found during this research
Lanka and India during the Dutch period, Delft, 1985,
p. 73, pls. 67 and 68; respectively. The Rijksmuseum study with finials carved in the shape of lions and small ball knobs inserted between
chair is also published in Veenendaal, 2002, p. 27, fig.
Left 9. It is important to note that the Gemeentemuseum balusters in the back, may have served as model for the lacquer chair discussed here
Fig. 4.1.2.14 Transition-style chair chair later proved to be mostly a replacement, (Figs. 4.1.2.16a and b). The lacquer craftsmen would have transformed the lion
312
Early Edo period, c.1630–1650 made in the nineteenth century, which must have
Height: 67cm; width: 36cm been based on a seventeenth century original. I finials into Buddhist Lions and turned them around to look backwards. However,
Current whereabouts unknown am grateful to my supervison Prof. Dr. Christiaan
Jörg for bringing these chairs and publication to one cannot rule out the possibility that the model taken to Japan could have been a
my attention, and to Jet Pijzel-Dommisse, curator
Fig. 4.1.2.15 Engraved plate with designs of Decorative Arts at the Gemeentemuseum, for church chair of similar shape made for the Dutch in southern India, which in turn
for nine chairs the information on the church chair formerly in the copied the Dutch model. Small folding chairs were used in the Calvinist churches of
313
Crispijn van de Passe the Younger (1593–1670), museum collection.
314
Oficina Arcularia in Qua sunt ad spectantia 311 I am indebted to Jan Veenendaal, specialist on southern India, and were hung up on the wall after use. Thus, the Japanese lacquer
diversa Eximia exempla ex varijs autoribus furniture and the applied arts made for the VOC chair, dating to c.1630–1650, combines a Dutch shape with fine makie decoration and
collecta, Amsterdam, 1642 and WIC, for bringing this engraved plate to mother-of-pearl inlay, which consists of cash and scrolling foliage patterns, and long-
my attention.
Dimensions: 30.9cm x 21cm 312 I am grateful to Rob Bruil, Bruil and Brandsma
Victoria and Albert Museum, London Works of Art, Amsterdam, for granting me tailed birds in flight, on the sides and front of the legs, which are not usually found
(museum no. 20357:1) permission to include images of the chair in this in Namban or the so-called Transition style lacquers. The arcaded rails, however, are
doctoral dissertation.
313 Veenendaal, 2002, p. 27. decorated with scrolling foliage and typical Namban scrolls, and the cresting on the
314 Ibid., pp. 27–28.
Right 315 The transcription of the original text in Dutch reads: top-rail has eight chrysanthemum mon. This chair was most probably a private order.
Figs. 4.1.2.16a and b Dutch rosewood and ‘1 costelijcke camerstoel die verlakt is voor den
ebony chair edelen Hr. Gouverneur Generael’. NFJ 839, Account- In February of 1640, François Caron, the Opperhoofd in Hirado, sent on the
Early seventeenth century, c.1620–1650 book Deshima. 1639. Cited in Impey and Jörg, 2005, VOC ship Castricum to Batavia via Formosa ‘one costly camerstoel, lacquered, for His
Height: 72.5cm; width: 37.5cm p. 44. The English translation is taken from Viallé, Honour the Governor-General’, valued at 100 taels. In October of that same year,
315
Buil & Brandsma, Amsterdam 2010/1, p. 192.

382 Trade in Japanese Lacquer 383