A Lacquer Cabinet Commissioned for the Portuguese Market on an English Stand
Momoyama period (late 16th - early 17th century), English stand, late 18th - early 19th century
The rectangular cabinet with two hinged doors opening to reveal ten various-sized drawers surrounding a central drawer of architectural form, above two drawers at the base, decorated in gold, silver and red hiramaki-e and takamaki-e, samegawa [shark skin] and inlaid in mother-of-pearl on a black lacquered ground, the front doors with a cartouche enclosing a Chinese figure and his dog capturing a hare by a bridge over a stream, four mon [family crests] of chrysanthemum and shippo at each corner, all against a samegawa ground and surrounded by a border of shippo-hanabishi, the top with a cartouche depicting two figures and their dog chasing a hare in a landscape, one side with a cartoucheenclosing kikyo [Chinese bellflower], autumn grasses and butterflies and the other side with chrysanthemum and kikyo, each cartouche surrounded by four mon of shippo on a samegawa ground framed with a shippo-hanabishi border, each face divided by the mother-of-pearl inlaid geometric pattern borders, the interior of the doors similarly decorated with two cartouches with kikyo and autumn grasses against samegawa ground surrounded by the shippo-hanabishi borders, the drawers decorated with autumn flowers bordered by shippo-hanabishi, gilt pulls in the form of flowerhead with dangles, gilt copper fittings incised with chrysanthemum flowerhead on a shippo-hanabishi ground, the central key plate with a cartouche depicting a coastal scene with birds in flight against a geometric ground surrounded by a border of scrolling foliage, the key with tassels, on a carved English ebonised mahogany stand
Cabinet 58.5cm. high, 53.5cm. wide, 43cm. deep; stand 71cm. high, 58.4cm. wide, 49cm. deep

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