A JAPANESE NAGASAKI STYLE LACQUER CUTLERY BOX

A JAPANESE NAGASAKI STYLE LACQUER CUTLERY BOX

EDO PERIOD, C.1800

Formed as an urn with a rising cover revealing tiered compartments for knives, decorated to the exterior with vertical panels in mother of pearl and gold, depicting ho-ho birds, urns and flower sprays, the square plinth raised on four bracket feet, 76cm.

Provenance: from a deceased estate, Hampshire.

Cf. O Impey and C Jörg, Japanese Export Lacquer 1580-1850, pp.326-328 n.637, for a closely related knife urn at the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, acquired by Captain Samuel Gardner Derby in 1801. Gardner Derby was Captain of the Margaret of Salem and traded in Nagasaki under charter from the VOC (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie), the Dutch East India Company.