Box, tray and cover nineteenth century
Black and gold painted lacquer and silver | 22.0 x 34.0 x 27.0 cm (whole object) | RCIN 41565
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A deep, rectangular box, the inset rim bound in silver to receive the overfitting cover, which is slightly domed; fitting inside, a shallow tray, its rim also in silver. The black interior lined with gold-patterned red silk. The top and sides decorated in gold on black with the same all-over scrolling design as the scroll box RCIN 41541. Fitted on either side, silver rings in the same style.
Text adapted from Chinese and Japanese Works of Art in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen: Volume III.
Provenance
Almost certainly sent to Queen Victoria by Shōgun Tokugawa Iemochi, 1860.
The contrasting decoration of gold scrollwork and roundels of peonies on black lacquer matches a zushidana, kurodana and shodana in the Royal Collection (RCINs 26049 and 26051).
Those three shelves were received by Queen Victoria from Shōgun Tokugawa Iemochi in 1860 and described by Sir Rutherford Alcock (1809–97), the British Consul-General in Japan, on 27 September 1859, as:1 Kocladama (a sort of cabinet) [a kurodana, RCIN 26049]
1 Dioesu (a sort of cabinet) [a zushidana, RCIN 10451]
1 Siodama (a bookcase) [a shodana, RCIN 26051]
Smaller boxes from his gift, sent by Queen Victoria to the South Kensington Museum in 1865, bear an identical scrolling foliage design. A co-ordinating dressing case, dispatch case and pair of round incense boxes remain in the Royal Collection. The silk tassels on the matching case have evidently been stored within the box, for their striking red hue has not faded over time.
Text adapted from Japan: Courts and Culture (2020)
The Osborne Inventory 1876, p. 341, no. 851, locates this item in the Upper Corridor, with its tray and with cords of red silk such as those now accompanying RCIN 41541: ‘Square lacquer box, containing one tray, with red silk cords’. Noted again at Osborne in the Horn Room Passage in 1904, p.29, no. 151.Previously published by John Ayers as having been possibly acquired by Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh during his 1869 tour of Japan along with RCIN 70645, RCIN 70646, RCIN 41565 and RCIN 10451, with which it is en suite.
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Creator(s)
(place of production)(nationality)Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Black and gold painted lacquer and silver
Measurements
22.0 x 34.0 x 27.0 cm (whole object)
Category
Object type(s)
Place of Production
Japan
