Japanese Lacquer & Works of Art

ENGLISH FURNITURE & ASIAN ART

A JAPANESE GOLD LACQUER WRITING BOX (SUZURIBAKO) Japan, Edo period, 17th century, 17th Century

A JAPANESE GOLD LACQUER WRITING BOX (SUZURIBAKO) Japan, Edo period, 17th century

17th Century

Width: 20 cm 8"
Depth: 22 cm 8.5"

RS1004

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Provenance

Private Collection: London

Literature

Andrew J. Pekarik, Japanese Lacquer, 1600–1900: Selections from the Charles A. Greenfield Collection. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1980. Particularly relevant for seventeenth-century lacquer, writing boxes, decorative techniques and poetic imagery. Metropolitan Museum publication

Ann Yonemura, Japanese Lacquer. Washington, D.C.: Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1979. An illustrated museum collection catalogue useful for comparing Japanese lacquer techniques and early examples.

Beatrix von Ragué, A History of Japanese Lacquerwork. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1976. A standard historical study, particularly useful for tracing stylistic development and dating

A JAPANESE GOLD LACQUER WRITING BOX (SUZURIBAKO)
Japan, Edo period, 17th century

A rectangular lacquer writing box decorated in gold and coloured takamaki-e and hiramaki-e against a densely sprinkled gold ground.

Across the cover is a mountainous coastal landscape with rocky outcrops, flowering trees and pines, interspersed with pavilions and buildings overlooking an expanse of water. Finely incised waves are heightened with details in black lacquer and small inlays of contrasting materials.

Continuing across the underside of the cover and the base, the interior decoration depicts rocky shores, trees and flowering branches. The box is fitted with a rectangular inkstone, a metal water dropper and a removable brush tray, while a continuous geometric border frames the edges.

Drawing upon the traditions of Chinese and Japanese landscape painting, the decoration reflects the relationship between humanity and nature. Evergreen pines symbolise longevity and constancy, while flowering branches suggest renewal and the passage of time.

Nestled among rocks and trees, the buildings evoke an idealised retreat associated with scholarly contemplation, poetry and the appreciation of nature, themes particularly appropriate to a writing box intended for calligraphy and literary pursuits.

Condition: Excellent

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