A Sawasa-ware book-form box and cover, Edo period, early 18th century

A rare Sawasa-ware book-form box and cover.
Edo period, early 18th century.

The book-shaped box with an integrated hinged lid with a wide inner rim. The front and back are decorated with trees, pavilions and birds in high black lacquered relief designs on a gilt granulated background, contained within a double frame. The spine of the book showing traces of gilt. The inside is gilded as well. The box seemingly opens on the wrong side, probably because the Asian craftsman was unfamiliar with books of this type.

Dimensions:
Length 7,5 cm, width 4,5 cm, depth 1,5 cm.

Lit:
Two identical boxes are illustrated in Sawasa: Japanese Export Art in Black and Gold 1650-1800 (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, 1998), pp. 77-78, no’s B.19.1 and B.19.2

Note:
The luxurious Sawasa tobacco- and snuffboxes, shaped according to European taste, were commissioned by the Dutch East India Company. Receiving such assignments from foreign customers was no novelty for the Chinese and Japanese craftsmen, since they were already accustomed to catering for other Asian markets. However, although the boxes had European shapes, they were decorated in Oriental style.

It is difficult to determine whether a tobacco box was made by a Chinese or Japanese craftsman, since the Japanese copied the Chinese. Sawasa ware was thought for many years to be of Chinese origin and was originally labelled as Tonkin Ware. However, it is now thought that these objects, manufactured until the mid-18th century, were made in Nagasaki and exported via Deshima. Most surviving examples of Sawasa ware take the form of Dutch originals, such as tobacco boxes, tea sets, cups and saucers, tea kettles and coffee urns.

For other examples of Sawasa ware see the collections of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Inv. No: MW380