Suntory Museum of Art
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Collection
Notable Works
Portable altar with flower and bird design in mother-of-pearl inlay and maki-e

Notable Works

Lacquerware

Portable altar with flower and bird design in mother-of-pearl inlay and maki-e

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Place of production or style: Export Nanban lacquerware
Number of components: 1
Dimensions (in cm): W. 27.0, D. 4.0, H. 37.5
Date of production: Momoyama period 16-17th century

Portable altars were used to enclose sacred images. This example has double doors opening from the center and a hanging ring attached to the roof. The exterior of the doors is decorated with chrysanthemums, bush clover, birds and butterflies. Camellia, bamboo, and birds decorate the interior of the doors while the inside of the gable features finely drawn silver grass (Japanese pampas grass) and bush clover. The borders are Namban arabesques and a checkerboard pattern of diamond-shaped flower motifs. From the liberal use of mother-of-pearl and the composition in which all gaps are filled with designs, we can infer that the altar was produced to the preferences of a foreign customer. In order to fulfill large orders, the maki-e decoration is relatively simple, primarily hiramaki-e, in which the gold is sprinkled on the lacquer surface in very low relief, harigaki engraving, and e-nashiji, use of the nashiji or pearskin technique of sprinkling the surface with coarse gold flakes, to create motifs. This is a typical example of Namban lacquerware.

Notable Works

Portable altar with flower and bird design in mother-of-pearl inlay and maki-e

SUNTORY MUSEUM of ART