A UNIQUE DUTCH-COLONIAL JAPANESE BLACK-LACQUER CABINET CHEST WITH SILVER MOUNTS

 

Edo period, last quarter 17th century

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Hinoki and keyaki wood, black lacquer and silver mounts, with two doors behind which a set of drawers of which two with lock, the sides with handles.

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H. 71.5 x W. 86 x D. 48.3 cm
 

Provenance:

Jonkvr(ouw) Ricardus by legacy to “Gasthuis Delft”, donated to Museum Delft, auctioned in Utrecht in 2019.

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Note:
Undecorated Japanese lacquered cabinets with silver mounts are highly unusual. The present one was undoubtedly explicitly ordered by a Dutch VOC official based in Japan, on the small artificial island of Decima. In the mid-17th-century black ebony furniture with silver mounts was popular in the Netherlands