Lot 40
40
A LACQUER BUNDAI [WRITING TABLE] AND SUZURIBAKO [WRITING BOX]
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus bu… Read more
A LACQUER BUNDAI [WRITING TABLE] AND SUZURIBAKO [WRITING BOX]

LATE EDO PERIOD (19TH CENTURY)

Details
A LACQUER BUNDAI [WRITING TABLE] AND SUZURIBAKO [WRITING BOX]
Late Edo Period (19th Century)
The bundai of the usual form, the upper surface decorated in gold nashiji ['pearskin' lacquer] and kirikane [flakes and squares of foil], gold and silver takamaki-e [high-relief lacquer] and other lacquer techniques and with details in gold, silver, coral, semi-precious stones and iroe [soft-metal decoration] of a moonlit waterscape with pine and cherry trees, huts, pavilions and a lone boatman, the metal fittings of silver, the legs finished in gold nashiji; the en-suite suzuribako similarly decorated and complete with gold nashiji lacquer sumitori [ink-holder], knife, brushes, skewer, silver suiteki [water-dropper] worked with karakusa [floral] designs, and stone suzuri [inkstone] with gold lacquer rim set in a central panel, slight scratches
The bundai: 5 5/16 x 14 7/16 x 25 3/8in. (13.5 x 36.7 x 64.5cm.)
The suzuribako: 2 1/8 x 10¼ x 9 1/8in. (5.4 x 26 x 23.2cm.)
Special notice
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

This style of elaborate maki-e decoration involving the use of coral is first seen in early seventeenth-century sets of marriage gifts made by the Koami lacquering dynasty, especially the celebrated Hatsune no chodo set of 1637-9, and remained popular throughout the Edo period. See Tokugawa Bijutsukan [Tokugawa Art Museum], Hatsune no chodo [Hatsune Maki-e Lacquer Furnishings] (Nagoya, 1985), cat. no. 1.

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