Signed lacquer Kurodana, Japan, first half of the 20th c

Kurodana presentation in black lacquer roiro, with asymmetrical structure, decorated with a decoration of flowers and herbs in gold maki-e, enhanced with mother-of-pearl, with silver engraved ferries. The panels, leaves and reserves develop a refined plant landscape where irises, foliage, grasses and seasonal flowers stand out on the deep black background, animated by thin water lines drawn in concentric waves. The whole is fully part of the decorative vocabulary of the state shelves related to the cultivated world of tea and precious objects.

The quality of the work is due to the explicit collaboration of several specialists, all named on the tomobako. The inscription reads: master lacquerer Hyosei, master of maki-e Kagyo, master of Yukihiro fittings, "decorative shelf in lacquer roiro with decoration of flowers and herbs in maki-e", with original box. This distribution of tasks shows that it is a high-level decorative work, designed by distinct specialties.

The maki-e decor was made by Yuasa Kagyo (1875-1952), an artist well documented by Art Platform Japan, who gives his dates, his field of activity in the decorative arts, and his personal name, Yuasa Morikazu. Art Platform Japan also documents several works of his hand preserved at the Kyoto National Museum of Modern Art, including a maki-e poetry box and a suzuribako, while the MIHO Museum also keeps a suzuribako. These references show an artist fully inscribed in the refined decorative lacquer of Kyoto and the first decades of the 20th century.

The place of Yuasa Kagyo in this work is essential. The floral decoration is not based on a simple ornamentation applied, but on a very safe science of the lacquered surface, plant rhythms and reserves. Large iris leaves, bank herbs, small flowers and mother-of-pearl accents are arranged with a very controlled restraint, without overload, in a spirit that combines stylized naturalism and decorative elegance.

The master lacquerer Hyosei is appointed as responsible for the background and implementation of the furniture itself as well as the execution of the lacquer. Similarly, the hardware is explicitly attributed to Yukihiro, which gives the furniture a remarkable unity between structure, painted decor and metalworking. This triple signature strongly reinforces the interest of the piece, by concretely documenting the manufacturing chain of a quality kurodana.

By its black roiro background of great depth, by the finesse of the floral decoration, by its mother-of-pearl highlights, by its engraved fittings and by the joint presence of three named speakers, this kurodana is linked to a Japanese production of the first half of the refined twentieth century.

Dimensions: height approx. 81.5 cm; width approx. 85 cm; depth approx. 38 cm.

Signed Tomobako