Mother-of-pearl inlaid lacquer box

Ryukyu Islands, 17th – 18th century

Length: 5 3/4 inches, 14.5 cm
Height: 2 3/4 inches, 7 cm

A lacquered wood box and cover of hexagonal form, supported on a high, straight foot, the cover with domed sides and a flat top. The black lacquered exterior of the box is inlaid with small pieces of mother-of-pearl. The flat top is decorated with two figures in a landscape setting. A literati, seated on the edge of a lake, is looking at the wavy flow whilst his attendant stands by his side under a tree. A jagged rock formation can be seen in the far distance. The sides of the cover are decorated with floral sprigs, with different flower branches to the sides of the base section, between bands of formal diaper pattern. The interior is covered in bright vermillion lacquer.

The Ryukyu Islands held close connections with China during the Ming dynasty, but from the early 17th century were closer to Japan.[1] Although much controversy remains over the attribution of certain lacquer pieces to either China or the Ryukyus, the shape of the present box and its decorative scheme strongly suggest an attribution to Ryukyu manufacture. In the early 17th century a new mother-of-pearl inlay technique was introduced to Ryukyu craftsmen from China, which involved boiling the molluscs and peeling off very thin layers, resulting in an increased iridescence when pieces were inlaid in lacquer.[2] Hexagonal lacquer boxes were common products in Ryukyu; a stacked hexagonal box now preserved in the Museum für Kunsthandwerk in Frankfurt-am-Main, is decorated with a closely comparable scene of figures in a landscape setting.[3] There are, however, also parallels with Chinese lacquer of this period, such as a circular box in the Nezu Museum in Japan, which also shows a figure sitting beside a river, accompanied by an attendant.[4]

1. Watt, J.C.Y. and Ford, B.B. East Asian Lacquer, The Florence and Herbert Irving Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1991, p. 329
2. Watt, J.C.Y. and Ford, B.B. op. cit. p. 336
3. Gabbert, G., Ostasiatische Lackkunst, Museum für Kunsthandwerk Frankfurt-am-Main, 1978, no.75, p.90
4. Catalogue of Selected Masterpieces from the Nezu Collections, Decorative Art, Nezu Institute of Fine Arts, Tokyo, 2001, no. 208, p. 175

黑漆嵌螺鈿人物六角形蓋盒
琉球 十七 – 十八世紀 長：14.5 公分 高：7 公分

六角形蓋盒，隨形圈足，蓋壁隆起接平頂。通體髹黑漆為地，以螺鈿鑲嵌紋飾。盒面嵌一長袍文人於樹
下席地而坐，臨岸眺望流水，一侍童側立，遠景襯有山石及流雲。蓋及盒壁均嵌纏枝花卉紋。盒內及盒
底髹紅漆。此螺鈿漆盒雖為琉球製作，由其裝飾風格與構圖可窺見當時與中國的工藝交流。此類六角形
螺鈿漆盒為常見琉球製品，如德國法蘭克福奧曼工藝美術博物館所藏之疊層漆盒。日本根津美術館則藏
有一件裝飾風格相仿之中國製圓形漆盒。
來源：日本私人收藏