UNSIGNED, EDO PERIOD (18TH CENTURY)

Details

A FINE AND RARE MINIATURE INCENSE CABINET DECORATED IN SOMADA STYLE
Unsigned, Edo Period (18th Century)
With removable drop-front secured by two fittings at the base and a catch at the top, the interior with one large drawer at the base, four smaller drawers above it to the left leaving a space at the right for the koro [incense burner] which is shaped as a cube with a removable pierced lid; the large drawer with a separate tray; the lowest of the smaller drawers lined in gilt metal; the whole with a black lacquer ground and decoration in tinted shell and gold foil; the interior surfaces gold nashiji; silver fittings

The exterior of the cabinet with chrysanthemums by a fence; the exterior of the drop-front with the Chinese poet Toenmei (Chinese: Tao Yuanming, 376-427) contemplating the flowers, a jar of wine at his side, the reverse of the drop-front with geese by a stream in the unusual technique of shell inlay in nashiji; the front of the large drawer with ho-o birds within a cartouche; the tray with Chinese children at play; the smaller drawers with geometric patterns
35/8 x 45/8 x 2½in. (9.2 x 11.7 x 6.2cm.)

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Thinly cut, minutely worked shell was much used in Chinese lacquer of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1912) dynasties and its use in Japan is traditionally said to have been pioneered by Somada Kiyosuke, who learned the technique in Nagasaki, Edo-period Japan's window onto contemporary China. Somada ware is characterised by intricate inlay of iridescent shell with tiny pieces of gold and silver foil laid flush with the ground which is usually black lacquer: its increasing popularity in Japan closely parallels the growing interest in Chinese artefacts that occurred during the early and middle Edo period. In Kyoto, for example, the Sumiya teahouse, started in 1641 and last renovated in 1787, incorporates a tearoom named the Aogai no ma [Shell Room] whose alcove is entirely decorated in similar techniques to this piece.1 As so often, the decoration on the cabinet is not only executed in a Chinese technique but also depicts Chinese motifs.

1 Patricia J. Graham, Tea of the Sages: The Art of Sencha (Honolulu, 1998), pp. 44-5

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