A SILVER TEA SET AND LACQUER STAND

Details

A SILVER TEA SET AND LACQUER STAND
edo period (first half 18th century)

A silver service engraved with the rokumon (six-coin crest) of the Sanada family reserved on a brocade pattern of floral latticework between bands of formal decoration which vary slightly from piece to piece, including bands of floral diaperwork, stiff leaves and rui-head reserves, the two large containers and brazier additionally applied with pine cone and ring fittings, the knops on these containers and small tea bowl cover cast in the form of pierced, round chrysanthemum buds, the bases of the vessels impressed with a single peony blossom; the set includes: a water kettle (kama) with cover with two detachable ring handles attached when the kettle is hot, a tripod-form brazier (furo), a cold water container with cover (mizusashi), a slop basin (kensui), a ring-form stand for the water dipper which rests in the slop basin (futaoki), a tea bowl with cover (chawan), a stand for the tea bowl (temmokudai), a dipper-container of rouleau form (shakutate), and a pair of brazier tongs (hibashi), all contained in a wood storage box dated on the underside of the lid Horeki 9 (1759); the accompanying stand of lacquered wood, decorated in gold and silver hiramaki-e and togidashi with scrolling branches of cherry blossoms on a dense nashiji ground, applied with silvered-copper mounts engraved with cherry scroll--height of kettle on stand 14¾in. (37.5cm.); lacquer stand 35¾ x 16½ x 26 3/8in. (91 x 42 x 67cm.)

Exhibited

11th Tobi Tokubetsu-ten, Tokyo Bijutsu Club, October 8-10, 1988

Lot Essay

The Sanada were daimyo of the Matsushiro clan in Shinano province (modern Nagano prefecture). This family of famous warlords was active in the Momoyama period and influential in politics and education throughout the Edo and Meiji periods.

This sumptuous set of tea ceremony utensils follows in the style of the famous solid gold set included in the trousseau of Chiyohime, eldest daughter of Tokugawa Iemitsu, on her marriage to the second lord of the Owari Tokugawa clan in 1639. That set is one of the masterpieces of the Tokugawa Art Museum.