Two Japanese Cabinets

Period

ca. 1650-1700

Material

brushed Sugi-wood

Sizes

(height) 66.00cm. (width) 51.00cm. (Length) 76.00cm.

Description

These two Japanese traveling chests have a frame of blackened wood that is held together with brass openwork fixtures. On the inside we find panels of brushed Sugi-wood. The chests have a transparent lacquer finish.
The front shows two doors that are mounted with five brass hinges each. The doors can be locked with a key. The brass escutcheons are elaborately decorated with openwork and copper. The chests are fitted with brass carrying handles on either side. The interior has ten drawers in different sizes. The bottom left and right drawer can be seperately locked and serve as a strongbox. Because of the various sizes of the drawers, artifacts of many shapes and sizes will find a proper place in them. All drawer fronts have a profiled edge of blackened wood.
Similar traveling chests for the Japanese market were commonly fitted with a leaf instead of doors. The specimen with double doors were manufactured to be sold abroad. After 1660 we find them quite often, mostly in pairs, in the administration of the VOC. The Sugi-wood chests made for the home market were mostly fitted with iron hinges and locks. For the Western market, the furniture was often finished with black and gold lacquer with mother of pearl inlay and brass fittings.
The size of the chests, the elaborate finishing with brass, the brushed Sugi-wood and the numbering suggest that these cabinets were specially manufactured for the Western market.