17TH CENTURY

These jewel-like caskets would always have always been highly prized for their exquisitely detailed lacquer decoration and for a pair to survive in such an untouched state is especially rare. Whilst their early provenance has not been traced, they were present in the 'Chinese Room' at Ombersley Court from at least the early-mid 20^th century – a room that had changed very little from its creation circa 1814. The room retained its original decorative scheme and furnishings until the sale of the house in 2017 – so it would seem most likely that that these caskets were likely acquired by Mary, Marchioness of Downshire (1764-1836) for that room and formed part of its furnishings from its inception under her direction. In the early 19th century caskets such as these would have been especially prized due to the scarcity of Japanese works of art thanks to Japan’s isolationist policies, which had starved Europeans of Japanese art for more than 150 years.

Similar caskets are illustrated and discussed in: Exhibition catalogue, The Beauty of Black and Gold Japanese Lacquer: Makie, Kyoto, National Museum, 1995, pp. 202-216, including a closely related casket that is held in the collection of The Victoria & Albert Museum, London, (accession number: 628 to G-1868). A further similar casket, fitted in Europe as a necessaire, was sold, Christie's, Paris, 3 October 2012, lot 36 (265,000 Euros).