A JAPANESE EXPORT LACQUER DISH

A JAPANESE EXPORT LACQUER DISH

1680-1730
26.7 cm diam

Impey and Jorg described this type of decoration as ‘Pictorial-style’ and identify a sub-group that has a rounded base rather than the typical footrim copied from porcelain dishes. These all have a broad flat border and a shallow curved wall to the flat well, they suggest the form may be adapted from European pewter plates.

Much of the Japanese lacquer imported in to Europe came as ‘private’ trade through members of the VOC, the Dutch East India Company, and examples have been preserved in a number of distinguished collections dating from the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

A very similar but slightly larger example in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, (inv. 1991.124) is illustrated by Impey and Jorg, p. 180 no. 424.

Condition:
One area of slight water damage to the border

References:
Oliver Impey and Christiaan Jörg, Japanese Export Lacquer, 1580 – 1850, (Amsterdam 2005)

This item has been sold