Product Description

7361               A Negoro lacquer kataguchi chōshi (single spouted sake decanter)

Mark on base. Yamaji.

Japan 16th century Muromachi period

Dimensions: H. 6¾” x W.13¼” x D.10¼” (17cm x 33.5cm x 26cm)

 

Negoro lacquers are traditionally associated with the Negoro Temple complex in Wakayama prefecture which was founded in the 12th century by monks of the Shingon Buddhist sect. The Negoro temples grew enormously in power and wealth during the 15th and 16th centuries, and their warrior monks played a major part in the civil wars of the time until they were crushed by the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi who almost entirely destroyed the complex in 1585.

While a number of pieces have survived in the general vicinity of the temple they do not, as a group, exhibit any great differences from the corpus of lacquers made subsequently in the Negoro manner, so it is difficult either to associate them with the temple or to establish a canon of ‘true’ Negoro pieces which can be distinguished from those made elsewhere.

The best-known of the earliest examples of the ware is the so-called Hinomaru-bon, a circular tray in the Todaiji Temple, dated Einin 10 (1298). The many dated examples of Negoro ware that have survived in Japan enable us to trace the course of its development to a certain degree and there is a discernible trend over time towards a greater elegance and lightness of form.

For a similar example see: Negoro: Efflorescence of Medieval Japanese Lacquer Ware, Miho museum, 2013, p.271, pl.327

n.b. There are numerous old chips and wear including a crack to one side of this piece as well as some chips to the base commensurate with age. There are some areas with a later clear lacquer vanish.