Lot Essay
Examples of Christian Missal stands, also called book-stands or Bible-rests and, in Japanese shokendai, may be found in the Tokyo National Museum, the Namban Bunkakan, Osaka and elsewhere. The Tokyo example, besides being slightly larger, incorporates shell inlay in geometric designs, and a lectern with a little more elaborate decoration is in the Museum Nacional de Arte Antiga in Lisbon. Precise dating of Christian Namban lacquer is difficult, but is generally taken to be after 1590, when the Korean influence on lacquer was felt, and before 1614, when the prosecution of Christians began. Contemporary with the lecterns are the cylindrical pyxides or host-boxes, similarly decorated with the Jesuit monogram on their covers, and the portable retables or travelling shrines, several of which have appeared in New York and London sales.
Although Korean lacquerwork was already known in Japan in the Muromachi Period, it seems to have had little effect on contemporary lacquer, and it was Hideyoshi's two Korean campaigns at the end of the 16th Century which brought Korean craftsmen, and objects, to Japan, and which seem to have been one of the main influences in the development of this style.
The shape and construction of these Japanese missal stands was almost certainly derived from Goanese carved wood originals although equally there is evidence to suggest that the form is based on an Islamic prototype. A number of these delightful missal stands can be found in Portugal. An example is illustrated in Inventario Artistico de Portugal (Distrio de Santarem), Lisbon 1949 (pl. CXXXV) as is another carved wood and gilt missal stand in the Church of Nossa Senhora da Purificacao, do Olival (pl. CLXXI) and two other Goanese examples simply of carved wood and both with Dominican influence.
Six similar examples were sold in these Rooms, 22 November 1983, lot 122, 27 November 1984, lot 18, 19 November 1985, lot 30, 14 June 1989, lot 236, 23 November 1992, lot 380, and 14 June 1993, lot 423.
Although Korean lacquerwork was already known in Japan in the Muromachi Period, it seems to have had little effect on contemporary lacquer, and it was Hideyoshi's two Korean campaigns at the end of the 16th Century which brought Korean craftsmen, and objects, to Japan, and which seem to have been one of the main influences in the development of this style.
The shape and construction of these Japanese missal stands was almost certainly derived from Goanese carved wood originals although equally there is evidence to suggest that the form is based on an Islamic prototype. A number of these delightful missal stands can be found in Portugal. An example is illustrated in Inventario Artistico de Portugal (Distrio de Santarem), Lisbon 1949 (pl. CXXXV) as is another carved wood and gilt missal stand in the Church of Nossa Senhora da Purificacao, do Olival (pl. CLXXI) and two other Goanese examples simply of carved wood and both with Dominican influence.
Six similar examples were sold in these Rooms, 22 November 1983, lot 122, 27 November 1984, lot 18, 19 November 1985, lot 30, 14 June 1989, lot 236, 23 November 1992, lot 380, and 14 June 1993, lot 423.