Lot 222
222
AN INTERESTING SAMPLE STICK
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VA… Read more
AN INTERESTING SAMPLE STICK

MEIJI PERIOD (LATE 19TH CENTURY)

Details
AN INTERESTING SAMPLE STICK
Meiji Period (Late 19th Century)
Of lacquered wood, the wider sides separated into sixteen panels showing different styles of shell inlay, the narrow sides similarly divided into a smaller number of panels, the ends plain brown lacquer
24 in. (60cm.) long
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

The panels demonstrate a range of different styles, some of them traditionally associated with shell inlay (for example geometric patterns, crushed shell grounds and peony scrolls) some of them more innovative (for example the spider and web and the heavily encrusted thick sections of shell). During the middle and later Meiji period the government actively encouraged experimentation in lacquer and other techniques.1

1 Tadaomi Goke, Julia Hutt, and Edward A. Wrangham, The Khalili Collection: Treasures of Imperial Japan, vol. 4, Lacquer (London, 1995), p. 48, fig. 10, provides evidence for the existence of an experimental workshop in operation prior to 1901 and producing a variety of different patterns of shell inlay.

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