Japanese Gold Lacquer Boxes

Erik Thomsen Gallery is delighted to announce our next exhibition of more than 30 Japanese gold-lacquer boxes from the 18th century to the present. The exhibition starts this Friday, November 17, and continues to December 22. The display focuses on items suited to the cultural needs and pastimes of traditional Japan's courtly elites: suzuribako (boxes for writing utensils), natsume (caddies for powdered matcha green tea), kobako (miniature boxes for tiny slivers of imported incense wood), and tebako (Ladies' accessory boxes), all of them with meticulous decoration in the full range of maki-e gold and silver lacquer techniques unique to Japan.

 

Adorned with designs drawn from ancient poetry and the natural world, these masterpieces of Japanese craftsmanship offer a privileged window into a refined artistic tradition that has continued to thrive to the present day. Most of the works are signed or accompanied by a wooden tomobako storage box bearing a title or description along with the artist's name.

 

EXTENDED until February 2, 2018