An elegant antique Hangai Tansu made of solid quartered sawn keyaki wood with hand forged square iron handles and elaborate key. Hangai is a clothing chest used on ships. It has a single drop-fit door. Keyaki wood has a beautiful wavy natural grain, a bright and calm color and strength. This Tansu comes with a key that unlocks the chest with 2 side locks to uncover two large drawers.

Date: Edo Period (1603 - 1868)

Dimensions: 32.5" long X 18.5" tall X 16.25" wide

Japanese antique black and gold lacquered kanban (shop sign). Decorated with unusually beautiful calligraphy advertising cosmetics with words like 艶 tsuya "luster/gloss/sheen" and 白粉 Oshiroi which literally means "white powder"; the powder foundation worn by kabuki actors and especially by geisha and their maiko apprentices...

Box (Kobako) in lacquered wood powdered with gold (nashiji) decoration representing Daruma (with cut eyelids), face in red lacquer (cinnabar), eyebrows in silver powder and transparent eyes (crystal, glass or mica?). Daruma stands in front of a circular opening in old cracked walls. Its silhouette stands out against a background of rich kinji lacquer. Daruma wears a meditation robe lacquered in relief (taka-makie) with gold dust...

Antique Japanese rectangular box decorated with gold and silver dragonflies on a black lacquer ground. The lid is fastened on by a green chord. Inside is a removable tray lacquered with gold and silver crickets in wisps of golden grass. This box comes in a cedar tomobako.

Age: Meiji Period (1868-1912)

Dimensions: 5 1/8" high x 7 3/4" long x 5 1/2" wide

Stunning Inro on a gold nashiji background decorated in aokin, takamaki-e, kirigane and takazogan inlaid with mixed metals of a man standing on the roof of a thatched cottage and a young boy carrying a fruit basket looking towards the man . A two-part antler manju beautifully matching the inro is intricately decorated with coral ojime signed Jiyosai. H 9,8 cm.

Suzuribako - Important model of urushi lacquer writing case from Japan, offering a rich decoration of a Kabuto and a sand on the top of the lid, on a hirameji lacquer background. Gold and silver lacquer with rare finesse of decoration. The interior offers a particularly remarkable scene, of two deer in autumn foliage. Takamaki-e and hiramaki-e. Dimensions: 4.6 cm x 21.3 cm x 23 cm. Japan Edo (1603-1868) early 18th century.

Japanese rectangular suzuribako, lidded lacquer box with artfully and beautifully done with a dramatic design of blooming red hibiscus and its leaves, lacquer is raised and colors appear in layers, a most unusual and lovely technique, Taisho Period, signed and sealed tomobako: Setaro Imai, born Meiji 26 (1894). Size: 12 1/4" long x 11" wide x 2" high

Black and gold lacquer sageju-baco (picnic box) decorated with floral motifs in hiramaki-e. It includes a sake bottle, a four-compartment box with nashi-ji lacquer inside, a simple tray and a hollow tray. At the top, there is a bronze handle for transport.

The sageju-bako is divided into four superimposed boxes for food on the left; a simple tray, a sake bottle and a hollow tray on the right. They are in the shape of a plum blossom.
On the top, on both sides a phoenix...

A four-case lacquer inro in iroe, togidashi, hirame and kirigane lacquer, on a nashiji lacquer background, decorated with a boat, sailing on the flow, carrying numerous passengers, there are some mountains in the background.
Nashi-ji lacquer interior.
The ornamentation probably depicts the Sumida river in Tôkyô...

A pair of circular make-up boxes in nashi-ji lacquer adorned with a floral pattern and an aoi go mon motif (three mallow leaves in a ring) on the lid. This motif is well-known for being the mon (family crest) of the famous dynasty of the Tokugawa shoguns. The bottom of the lid and the top of the box are lined with silver...

Inrô in gilded lacquer according to the takamaki-e, hiramaki-e and kirigane techniques, with five squares of a mountain lake landscape.

On the first side, there is a samurai on horseback, who is drinking from the stream. A servant accompanies him, his sword in hand. Next to the pine tree are the things they would have left behind...

Inro of exceptional dimensions with 3 boxes in black lacquered wood, decorated with chrysanthemum flowers with 32 petals in powdered lacquer on a background of geometric zigzags, details in Nashiji and nuances in silver powder. The chrysanthemum with 32 petals (2 rows of 16) was the Imperial symbol. This geometric decoration of zigzags is typical of the beginning of the 17th century during the short period of Momoyama...

Antique Japanese black lacquered cha tansu (tea display cabinet) with fabulous, intricate inlay designs of temple scenes, peacocks, and floral motifs. From the southernmost Japanese island known as Ryukyu.

Meiji period (1868-1912)

Size: 31.75" L x 12.5" W x 34.5" H

Antique Japanese small kobako (incense box) with inside tray. The outside is decorated with a scene of a garden fence, chrysanthemums, hydrangeas and daisies in gold lacquer on a nashiji ground. The interior is covered in fine nashiji. The small tray stands on tiny feet and has a pavilion scene with twisted pines all in gold lacquer on a matching nashiji ground.

Meiji Period (1868-1912)

Dimensions: 4" high x 6" wide x 4" deep.

A pair of Japanese negoro lacquer temple ritual sake offering containers, rich dark red lacquer over a black lacquer with a graceful body and a wishing ball stopper, Gigoshi, with a spiral design. The pair used for Buddhist purification and fulfillment rituals, and show the patina of respectful use.

Purchased in Japan from a Private Collection
Dates 18th/19th Century
Size H 14" x W 6"

Rare japanese urushi lacquer box of a calabash shape. Beautiful Hoteï sleeping on his bag on a black ground. Nashiji lacquer inside with two figthers. A rare border of checkerboard and mother of pearl inlays.

Small box of drawers in gold and silver lacquer background imitating tortoise shell. The decor is composed of volutes and phoenixes in light relief (Taka Maki-e) of gold and silver powders, mosaic detail of inlaid solid gold and silver tiny squares (kirikane). By transparency one distinguishes under the tortoiseshell the reflections of gold leaf. The fittings are finely chiseled with volutes...

Antique Japanese suzuki-bako, calligraphy box. Lacquered with a profusion of wildflowers in gold maki-e technique on black lacquer ground. The underside of the lid is beautifully preserved with more wild flowers growing near a swirling stream. This scene is also rendered in maki-e but includes some flashes of red leaves and a silvery moon on a black lacquer ground with clouds of nashiji...