Cabinet

Location: Japan

Materials: Wood, lacquered in togidashi-e, takamaki-e, hiramaki-e and nashiji, with inlay of ivory, bone, and shell; silvered and gilded fittings

Dimensions: 227 x 159 x 58.0 cm

Accession Number: LX43

Other Notes:

Produced by the Samurai Shokai Company.

This sumptuously decorated cabinet was purchased early in 1909 from Samurai Shokai by Baron R. von Swaine of Schloss Theres, Hasfurt, Unterfranken, Germany. The price was 1,000 yen, equivalent at that time to 2,050 marks. A letter of April 23, 1909, from Samurai Shokai (“Wholesale and retail of high art curios”) assures the Baron that:

“The cabinet is one of the most beautiful ones to be found in Japan and we feel sure that you will be perfectly satisfied with it and it will become centre of the admiration of those who know something about the arts. It is gold lacquer and worked with the beautifully cut inlaid mother of pearl design representing different remarkable events in our history.”

In 1910 the Samurai Shokai, supplied a cabinet (also in the Khalili Collections, LX37) which may have been intended for the Japan-British Exhibition.

The mother-of-pearl designs incorporate fourteen individually labelled stories from Japanese history. In keeping with the warlike character of the rest of the piece, the base is decorated with a band of arrowheads.

Bibliography:

Earle, Joe (1999). Splendors of Meiji: treasures of Imperial Japan: Masterpieces from the Khalili Collection. St. Petersburg, Florida: Broughton International Inc. ISBN 1874780137 pages 142-147 and 182-183