EDO PERIOD (EARLY 17TH CENTURY), THE STAND 17TH-18TH CENTURY

This cabinet clearly shows the elements of the transitional style of export lacquer from the Momoyama Period (late 16th century) into the early Edo Period (early 17th century), characterised by a lack of mother-of-pearl inlay and the doors with a pictorial panel within a border. For a discussion of this and illustrated examples of similar cabinets wee Oliver Impey, Japanese Export Lacquer (1580-1850), (Amsterdam, 2005), p.127-131

In Portuguese company records, these chests are called 'Scrutores'. Cabinets identical to these in form but varying in decoration were made at many of the Portuguese settlements in the East- in India and China as well as Japan- yet there is no known prototype or parallel in any indigenous Asian tradition. European models were used of which there are indications that the prototype was ultimately of German origin. In 1610 the Frenchman Pyrard de Laval described among furniture exported to the East Indies 'cabinets of all patterns in the fashion of those made in Germany - a la mode de ceux d'Allegmagne...' This claim of German origin is supported by other evidence. For instance it is known that German cabinets were popular in Spain and Portugal in the 16th Century and it is recorded that Queen Isabella of Spain imported many 'escritorios' and cabinets from Germany