AN IMPORTANT NEGORO LACQUER MARUBON [CIRCULAR TRAY]

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NEGORO LACQUER Negoro lacquers are traditionally associated with the Negoro Temple complex in Naka-gun, Kii province (Wakayama prefecture) founded in the 12th century by monks of the Shingon Buddhist. The Negoro temples grew enormously in power and wealth during the 15th and 16th centuries, and their warrior monks played a major part in the civil wars of the time until they were crushed by the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi who destroyed the complex in 1585, leaving only the great 40-metre pagoda and one other structure. Despite the persistence of the tradition linking the Negoro temples to lacquer production, only one example has come to light that is probably connected to the complex. This is a tray in the Rokujizo Temple (Ibaragi prefecture) inscribed with the characters saiku Negoro Shigemune [work by Shigemune of Negoro] and Hongan Hoin Keihan, the name of a priest who died in 1538. While a number of pieces have survived in the general vicinity of the temple they do not, as a group, exhibit any great differences from the corpus of surviving lacquers in the Negoro manner, so it is difficult either to associate them with the temple or to establish a canon of 'true' Negoro pieces which can be distinguished from those made elsewhere. The best-known of the earliest examples of the ware is the so-called Hinomaru-bon, a circular tray in the Todaiji dated Einin 10 [1298] which conforms to the modern conception of Negoro, with a durable surface that has survived the wear and tear of time, is of sturdy construction and has the characteristic, much prized by mid-20th century Japanese commentators such as Yanagi Soetsu and Bernard Leach, of being a common utensil and yet also a noble work of art. The many dated examples of Negoro ware that have survived in Japan enable us to trace the course of its development to a limited extent and there is a discernible trend towards a greater elegance and lightness of form. Conceptually speaking, Negoro wares can be placed at the intersection of several 20th-century approaches to Japanese art. They have, for example, been appropriated as noted above by the founding fathers of the Mingei movement who were particularly interested in the way that the red layer of lacquer wears away in places to reveal the black beneath ('the more this bowl is used, the more beautiful it is destined to become'), even going so far as to claim, quite incorrectly, that it is this combination of red over black that defines the ware.1 The fact that so few Negoro wares are interestingly signed has placed them outside the purview of the mainstream British lacquer-collecting tradition, but their very lack of ornament and their powerful forms have earned them a place in that view of Japanese material culture that takes as its starting-point the balance and simplicity of the traditional interior. The association with communal Buddhist living - clear, frozen mornings in remote mountain temples, steaming rice served from a great red bowl - also strikes a chord with the West's many followers of Zen. 'Negoro', then, defines not only a rare, mysterious and beautiful type of lacquer, but also a contemporary view of Japan. 1 Japan Folk Crafts Museum, Mingei - The Living Tradition in Japanese Arts (Glasgow, 1991), no. 135.

AN IMPORTANT NEGORO LACQUER MARUBON [CIRCULAR TRAY]

MUROMACHI PERIOD (15TH/16TH CENTURY)

Details

AN IMPORTANT NEGORO LACQUER MARUBON [CIRCULAR TRAY]
Muromachi Period (15th/16th Century)
Of turned wood with a gently splayed foot-ring, the red lacquer on the upper surface worn, revealing the black lacquer underneath, the reverse with traces of later gold lacquering
Diameter 14¼in. (36.2cm.); 2¼in. (5.7cm.) high

Literature

Kawada Sadamu, Negoro (Kyoto, 1985), cat. no. 98.

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

Kawada (see above) also includes a somewhat similar circular tray whose base is inscribed with a red-lacquer date corresponding to 1478, and the sturdy underlying joinery is paralleled in a number of piece different pieces dating from the same Bunmei era.1

1 Kawada Sadamu, Negoro (Kyoto, 1985), p. 360, cat. nos. 26, 27, 88 and 271, and figs. 33 and 44.

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