Japanese Lacquered Tray

Period

ca. 1680-1730

Material

lacquered keaki-wood

Sizes

(height) 3.00cm. (width) 23.00cm. (Length) 33.00cm.

Description

A rectangular servingtray on four legs with a raised edge and slightly truncated corners. The flat part and the rim are continuously decorated with honeycomb pattern of stylized flowerpetals. On three places on the tray we see the “Mon” (Japanese family crest) of the Maeda family. This Mon consists of a circle of five circles round a slightly smaller circle in the middle.
The entire tray is layed out in a geometrical pattern of Makie technique. The goldfoil decorations are slightly raised from the black background. This particular technique was introduced during the transition period (1630-1650). The decoration of geometrical patterns with a small number of Mon is predominantly seen in the earlier Namban period (1550-1630). The traditional motives of the decoration and the outstanding quality of the lacquer make it plausible that this object was manufactured especially for the Japanese market.
Serving trays were called “bandee” in Japanese, which means as much as fruit-tray. But these trays were not only used for fruits, but also for many other purposes like carying objects for the tea ceremony or betelboxes.
The Maeda family was an important clan of ancient Japan who reigned the Kaga district in Mid-Japan from their castle in Kanazawa from 1538 to 1868. The clan was not only active as military force, but were also influential in economics and culture. To maintain the important position of the Maeda clan their marital politics were aiming at stronger ties with the Shogu clan of Tokugawa of Edo. In the 17th and 18th century several Maeda men married Tokugawa women. Possibly one of the Tokugawa daughters brought this tray with her as part of the dowry.
The technique
Kaeki wood is very light and can be processed in very thin layers. The wood is covered with many layers of the processed sap of the lacquer-tree. After each layer the object is dried in a place that is free of dust and has an extremely high humidity (80-90%) and subsequently polished. The top layer is transparent. To enhance the effect of the golden decoration, it was often applied in hiramakie of takamakie technique, where the motives were sunken in, respectively raised over, the surface of the lacquer.