Fine Japanese Art

A SAWASA-WARE BOX AND COVER, 18TH CENTURY

Auction Closed

November 3, 04:10 PM GMT

Estimate

3,000 - 4,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

A SAWASA-WARE BOX AND COVER

18TH CENTURY

the oval box with flush fitting cover, inlaid in shakudo and gilt, with scenes of hare coursing and scrolling foliage on a gilt nanako ground, the cover inset with a French coin depicting Louis XIV (Louis Le Grand), the base inset with a roundel depicting a cockerel and hen, the interior in gilt with an engraved coat of arms (possibly that of the Sigoin and de Robaud families)

12 cm, 4 3/8 in. long

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Sawasa: Japanese Ecport Art in Black and Gold 1650-1800 (Amsterdam, 1998)

G. E. Rumphius, D’Amboinsche Rarireitkamer (Amsterdam, 1705)

Sawasa ware was thought for many years to be of Chinese origin and was originally labelled as Tonkin Ware. However, it is now thought that these objects, manufactured until the mid-18th century, were made in Nagasaki and exported via Deshima. Most surviving examples of Sawasa ware take the form of Dutch originals, such as tobacco boxes, tea sets, cups and saucers, tea kettles and coffee urns. The decoration on such pieces is usually undertaken in shakudo on a gilded ground, often in nanako as in the present lot, and is therefore perhaps unsurprising that the term Sawasa most likely stems from the Dutch term for shakudo, namely suassa.

For other examples of Sawasa ware see the collections of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.