LATE EDO PERIOD (MID-19TH CENTURY)

Details

A JAPANESE GOLD LACQUER CABINET (SHODANA)
LATE EDO PERIOD (MID-19TH CENTURY)
The fine gold lacquer cabinet comprising three shelves, three sets of sliding doors, nine variously-sized drawers and two hinged doors which open to reveal a further shelf and pair of sliding doors; the cabinet decorated overall in gold, black and silver low-relief lacquer (hiramaki-e), high-relief lacquer (takamaki-e), hirame, kirikane and inlaid in shakudo against a kinji ground, the doors and drawers with intricate scenes from The Twenty-Four Paragons of Filial Piety, the hinged doors with lower panels depicting mythical kirin to the outside, the interior of the doors with an elephant and a young boy hoeing a field with birds, the sides and reverse decorated with cranes in flight over hills and pine trees; the shelves with scattered Tokugawa mon on a nashiji ground; applied with engraved metalwork mounts with applied mon, the drawers with engraved silvered fittings, the interior of one door signed Harui and sealed Sei (Harui Seizaburo)
117 (H) x 107 (W) x 49.7 cm. (D) (46 x 42 1/8 x 19 ½ in.)

Provenance

Mr Geo. H. Hodgson, sold Messrs. Glendining & Co. Limited, London, 10th December 1917, lot 166, illustrated plate XV.

Special notice

This lot will be removed to Christie’s Park Royal. Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. Our removal and storage of the lot is subject to the terms and conditions of storage which can be found at Christies.com/storage and our fees for storage are set out in the table below - these will apply whether the lot remains with Christie’s or is removed elsewhere. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Christie’s Park Royal. All collections from Christie’s Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s it will be available for collection on any working day 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. Lots are not available for collection at weekends.

Sale room notice

Please note, included with the cabinet is a copy of the 1917 Messrs. Glendining & Co. Ltd. auction catalogue in which the cabinet is listed as Lot 166 and illustrated plate XV

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Paul Gallois

pgallois@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2260

Lot Essay

The Twenty Four Paragons of Filial Piety was written by the Yuan Dynasty scholar and well-known poet Guo Jujing (Jp: Kaku Kyokei). This highly influential text featuring twenty-four pious children as paragons of filial piety and was used to teach Confucian moral values. The theme entered Japan during the Momoyama period (1573–1615) and became extensively celebrated in Japanese art.
Pictured in fine lacquer on this cabinet (inside the hinged doors) is the paragon Dashun (Jp: Taishun), a legendary emperor who, despite a neglectful father who favoured his cruel step-mother and her son, went to cultivate land for his parents on Mt. Li, where an elephant and bird helped him with the difficult task. Also featured (lower left drawer-front) is Yang Xiang (Jp: You Kou), who aged fourteen, was accompanying his father into the mountains when a tiger leapt out at them. Without thinking of his own life, the son protectively jumped in front of his father, scaring off the tiger with his show of determined will. Also depicted (to the left-hand sliding door in upper right shelf) is Huang Shangu (Jp: Kou Sankoku; 1045-1105), a famous Northern Song calligrapher and poet, who was so devoted to his mother that he washed her chamber pot.

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