EDO/MEIJI PERIOD (MID-LATE 19TH CENTURY)

A Japanese musical instrument-maker imported machinery for fine-slicing veneers from Germany in 1909 but it seems that Japanese workshops had already been producing produce marquetry furniture and boxes in large quantities, mostly for export to the West, from early in the Meiji period (1868-1912). Similar pieces for Japanese use were already being made at the time of Ph. F. von Siebold's period of service as physician to the Dutch trading-post on Dejima, from 1823 to 1830. These earlier pieces, however, instead of relying only on marquetry for their decorative effect, also incorporated lacquered areas decorated in mother-of-pearl as well as large areas of undecorated wood with interesting natural grain structures. An example of this type is the sage-jubako [picnic set], illustrated in Siboruto to Nihon [Von Siebold and Japan] (Tokyo, 1988), cat. no. 94, now in the National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden. Probably because of their European forms, the later pieces intended for export to the West are seldom, if ever, illustrated in books on Japanese furniture and other arts and crafts. Most of the surfaces of these pieces are covered with intricate marquetry inlays of different colours and grains of wood, without the use of lacquer in their decoration.