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 into 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:
Some degredation to the surface of the lacquer and some rubbing to the gold
References
Oliver Impey and Christiaan Jörg, Japanese Export Lacquer, 1580 – 1850, (Amsterdam 2005)
Price: £5,500
