A rare Japanese Namban export lacquer coffer with Mon emblems

The coffer is decorated in black lacquer, urushi, on cedar wood, decorated with gold dust and silver, maki-e, and nashiji, mother-of-pearl, raden, and red copper mounts in the Kõdaiji-style.

H. 29.2 x W. 45 x D. 38.5 cm

Provenance:
Private collection, the Netherlands
Private collection, Switzerland

Although the form of the box is European/ Iberian, the decoration with several mon that each identify a Japanese family, clan, or individual indicates that this box was probably intended for the Japanese domestic market and not the export market. Mon can be regarded more or less as the Japanese equivalent of the coat-of-arms in European society. The mon possibly originated over a thousand years ago from banners used by warriors on the battlefield in order to distinguish each other. There are 241 different kinds of mon known, but today, with all their variations, about 20.000 exist. In the Edo period, samurai used them to identify themselves, but some particular mon have always been reserved for the Imperial Court.

The mon on the present chest include; Katabami (oxalis), Goshichi-no-kiri (paulownia), Sakura (cherry blossom), Yuroku- kiku (16 petals of chrysanthemum) and Shyppo (the 7 treasures). So most mon consist of stylised flowers.

This coffer was made in the late Momoyama period, the time when Hideyoshi (1537-1598) reigned Japan. He was of peasant ancestry but, nevertheless, became a very powerful general, bringing the ‘Warring States period’ to an
end and unifying Japan. He is also known for crucifying the ‘Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan’ in 1597 to set an example for the Japanese who wanted to convert to Christianity.